Cutie Mark Crusaders: Survivors
by REV6Pilot
Summary: An ancient book. An accident they weren't responsible for. Now what lies ahead of Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom goes way beyond a simple quest to discover their special talents.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue: The power of a tome**

* * *

><p>It didn't look like much: an old, dictionary-sized book with a black dragon leather cover and a metallic spine, nothing radically different from many of the volumes that filled the Canterlot Palace's library archives. From the outside, the only aspect that would call attention to it was the odd metallic insignia on the front cover, keeping the book closed by holding a grey latch in place. Even so, it made the most notable Princess of Equestria's eyes widen at the very first glance, since to her, the symbol represented much more than that.<p>

The decoration was what she recognized as a cranium, but not an equine one, or a dragon's, or any creature she had personally laid eyes on. It was much rounder, similar to a great ape's, in fact, but with a considerably different facial structure, one that the alicorn had only seen in extremely ancient documents from the unicorn tribes, written millennia before even Princess Platinum was born. Sadly, those documents were illegible due to the complete loss of the understanding of the language of whoever wrote them. But there were still images on them, one of which she remembered as clearly as the sun she always guided through the sky: a bipedal creature wrapped in a cloak, holding a long, crystal-tipped rod in one of its dragon-like hands, and a book in the other.

A book uncannily similar to the one she, unable to manipulate with her telekinesis, now contemplated.

Celestia gently grabbed the book with her teeth and carried it off to her private quarters. She had an unexplainable hunch not to expose her discovery to anypony for the moment. She would leave the inspection of her find, and the inquiry about how such a valuable and old find had found its way to the fiction aisle of the constantly and carefully checked front shelves of the archives' lobby, for another date. It had been a long day, and even though she was used to all the royal duties, administrative work, and the manipulation of the Sun, it still wore her out sometimes.

In addition to that, the only pony she thought could really help her without boring her to death was most likely asleep.

* * *

><p>Spike huffed. Once again, his surrogate older sister, while looking for one of her topics of interest, had made a mess out of Books and Branches, the same library he had organized to perfection not half a day ago. Of course he loved Twilight Sparkle, but couldn't that pony clean up after herself even once?<p>

He was about to grab a copy of _The Missing Link: A Study On The Connection Between Neighanderthals And Modern Ponies_ when he felt his tummy tremble. The expected fiery belch came up, carrying the essence of a letter that fell on the intrigued baby dragon's hand. Why would anyone mail them so early in the morning? A second look at the rolled up sheet attracted his full attention to it. '_Oh, wow, the royal seal!'_

Wasting no time, Spike ran up the stairs and into Twilight's bedroom, where Ponyville's resident librarian lay fast asleep, with her muzzle resting on the latest edition of _Equestria's National Guide to Amateur Botanists_. The dragon nudged her urgently with a palm, making her stir a little. "Not now… no class on Saturdays…"

Spike insisted. "Come on, Twilight, wake up! You got mail!"

As soon as he uttered the last two words, the lavender unicorn shot up like a spring-loaded toy, dazed and nervous. "I'm sorry Princess I didn't mean to take a nap but it was late and I was so tired but I promise I won't do it again I'm sorry!" she stammered quickly, trembling in both from sleepiness and only half-justified apprehension.

But instead of the wise feminine voice she expected, what broke her out of her semi-awake state were the guffaws of a definitely masculine nature. Blinking a few times to scare off the remains of sleep, she looked at the bed side, and at her small reptilian assistant, who was currently on his belly, pounding the ground with his fists and laughing hysterically. She glared at him. "Spike!"

The baby dragon piped down at the annoyed shout and picked himself up off the floor, wiping a tear from his eye. "Heheheh, where did that come from?" He looked at her again, and her expression made him quiet down completely. "Er, I mean…" He offered the parchment. "Here, you received a letter."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that, as confused as Spike seemed to be. "Couldn't this wait until coffee?" she asked a little grumpily.

"No, look at the ribbon. It's priority mail from Princess Celestia."

She had already taken the rolled up paper and opened it before he could blink once.

As her eyes ran through the writing, she muttered the contents to herself. Spike strained to hear what she was saying, but gave up soon after and mounted on the mare's back to read it over her shoulder.

_My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,_

_Normally I wouldn't ask you this kind of thing so early, but do you have a few hours free at the moment? I have recently found something that I'm sure you will be interested in._

_Please answer as soon as possible. I do not have much time before I have to attend to morning duties._

_Your teacher, Princess Celestia_

"Spike, take a letter," Twilight said as she finished reading, rolling up the parchment. " Are you ready? Good. 'Dear Princess Celestia, if you wish…'"

Twilight paced nervously around the library's main floor, her nerves on edge. She knew her teacher didn't mind the lived-in aspect of her dwelling – in fact, she knew it suited her more than the spotless chambers she spent most of her time on –, but she couldn't help feeling nervous. "Spike, would you please hurry up?"

"Hey, I'm trying!" groaned the small dragon from the top of a ladder. "You can't just align spines in a hurry, you know!"

"I know, Spike, I know, but-"

"**BURP!"**

She caught the letter before it was halfway to the floor, opening it eagerly.

_I'll use this letter as a beacon! STAY BACK!_

The unicorn quickly flung the piece of paper into the center of the room and closed her eyes, tightening her eyelids against the usual flash of a teleportation spell.

At least, until a voice whispered in her ear. "Boo."

It took ten minutes for a guffawing Spike and a giggling Celestia to safely pull Twilight out of the knot her horn was stuck to in the ceiling.

* * *

><p>"Did you guys know I love weekends?" declared an orange pegasus filly walking down Ponyville's main street. "No school, no homework, nothing!"<p>

"Yeah!" agreed her yellow-pelted earth pony friend. "Now we have more time to go crusadin'!"

The third member of the trio, a white, curly-maned unicorn, piped in. "So, what should we try now?"

"Ah know, ah know! Ice-skating!" shouted Apple Bloom.

"But it's spring, Apple Bloom. There's no ice to skate on," Sweetie Belle observed.

The earth pony deflated visibly. "True..."

"Then we can go roller skate racing instead!" Scootaloo offered. After all, she had to train her speed. She had an idol to surpass!

"Er..." Apple Bloom fidgeted, "ah'm not exactly allowed in the roller rink anymore." Rainbow Dash knew that much.

"Hmm…" the young unicorn tapped a hoof to her chin. They had tried baking, stage performing, sewing, and pretty much everything that wasn't too dangerous for fillies to do, and the ones that were dangerous as well.

They were close to the library at this point, and Sweetie Belle was assaulted by a bout of inspiration. The door to the tree/building mix-up was open for a brief moment as Spike set a trash bag on the can beside it and went back inside. She turned to the other two. "We could try breathing fire like Spike does!"

"Breathe fire? Why'd we want that?" Scootaloo asked with her head tilted.

"Lots of things!" her friend explained. "We could cook without a stove, light campfires without matches, and even send letters to the princess!"

Apple Bloom nodded, starting to get enthusiatic about the idea. "Y'know, sometimes we get a big order o' homemade pies back at the farm and our oven jes' can't make them all. If ah breathe fire ah can roast more pies and get it done quicker an' we have more time off!"

"There's smoke, too!" Sweetie Belle squeaked out. "It scares away insects and miss Cheerilee said ponies used it to send messages many years back."

The farmer filly started bouncing on her front legs. "Smithing too! Imagine us makin' our own crusadin' tools!"

With each suggestion, Scootaloo became less skeptical and more enthusiastic. She lay her own idea on the table. "And fireworks and our smoke trails, too! Imagine a show you can do yourself right on the spot! Yeah, that sounds really cool!"

"Ah'm in!" Apple Bloom nodded.

With a yell of "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FIREBREATHERS, YAY!", the trio was off to the library.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Five minutes prior…<strong>_

Twilight was so transfixed by the book in front of her and Celestia that she forgot about the ring of wood firmly stuck around her horn. The mere presence of the cluster of bound pages, so old yet so preserved, awed her to no end.

"I would have asked Luna, but I have my reservations," the teacher explained. "I am still not sure if Nightmare Moon was a possession or an alter-ego, and she is still quite shaken by her recovery. Letting her near a possible source of unknown power is the last thing I would wish for her."

The unicorn didn't answer, her eyes glued to the book, her attention in a not very different state. She moved a hoof over the artifact. "It has a tingly aura…"

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "It does?" She repeated her pupil's gesture. "I can't feel anything."

"But, Princess, it's right here. It feels like…" Twilight hesitated, unable to put what she felt in exact words. "It's like it flows with my magic. I can feel its essence seeping a little into my body, circulating with my mana. It's kind of soothing." She squinted at the cover, as if something on the leather might hold the explanation.

Celestia being at a loss for words was something that didn't happen too often. This was one of those times – try as she might, she didn't know how to answer the young mare's question. What Twilight described sounded like the effects of a mana stone, the kind of jewel that unicorns without much power used to amplify their reserves... but Celestia herself wasn't exempt of the effects of those artifacts. It was puzzling.

Her train of thought was derailed by her student's face shooting up with the most perfect puppy dog eyes she had seen in centuries. "Please, can I open it? Please, Princess?"

Normally, the trick would be ignored, drained of effects by the lack of novelty. It happens when you're over a millenium old, and have a younger sister. However, she was being eaten by curiosity herself, and so Celestia couldn't help but nod. This prompted Twilight to open the latch and the cover as fast and meticulously as an aficionado opening a rare comic book they were trembling with anticipation to read, an action that forced the alicorn to hide her quiet chuckle behind a hoof.

As Twilight ran her eye over the very first word of the first page, something clicked within her brain. The runes inscribed in the old paper were suddenly legible, but more than that, they made sense. Every syllable, every word, even the slightest scratch of ink on the pages felt just _right_, and in a way that no evil magic could.

She was immersed so deep into the ancient artifact that she didn't notice her own mouth articulating almost unintelligible words, reading the page's syllabic runes out loud. Neither did she see that her teacher was trapped in the same trance, mimicking her actions.

What she did feel, however, was that her mana was running thicker, faster, and more vividly within her body and spirit. With that, it brought a sense of calm euphoria, a radiant inner peace.

To anypony who wasn't reading the book, a thick, suffocant shroud of power emanated from the two mares. It certainly was the case for Spike, who lay prone near the bottom of the stairs, panting painfully as he was held down by an invisible weight.

A door slamming and three loud yells broke both princess and librarian out of their reverie. Were she thinking straight, Twilight would have instantly remembered how channeled mana had to have some kind of exhaust chute if a spell was ever aborted midway through.

And that was exactly what happened.

The greater source of magic in the room overshadowed the involuntary repeated casting of her latest application of mana – a feat of basic levitation –, suppressing any action it might have caused. However, Celestia's re-cast teleportation spell lacked both a target and a focus... a focus it found in the three fillies standing at the door.

A bright white flash, luminous enough to overshadow the sun's rays with ease, and the only testament that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had ever been at Ponyville's only library was Apple Bloom's mane bow lying on the floor.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Remember, this story is set right after "The Show Stoppers". Don't nail me to a cross because of how you remember Luna to be: by the time this takes place, she's still recovering from the Nightmare Moon fiasco.<strong>

**Also, it's implied by "The Ticket Master" that it's not just Celestia that can send Spike mail, remember? She's just the most frequent on-screen sender.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1: Complications far and wide**

At first, there was nothing…

Then came the awareness of existence, followed by vaguely perceived stimuli, and after those, the actual sensations – touch, smell, taste, then hearing, and finally vision. Not that it mattered, as they floated far from any solid surfaces with nothing in sight but the immense, featureless white void.

One of them tried to talk, but no sound came out. She tried once more, and this time, the other two could hear a distorted buzz, as if they were hearing a voice from underwater. Even though they could not understand each other, it was sound, something that proved that they weren't ghosts in the aether.

They grew more restless, more frantic, and with each beat of activity, colors other than the pure white registered in their eyes, as if their muscles painted the grey, brown, blue, orange, red and black into the canvas of reality. Sounds, heavily muffled at first, became clearer by the second, followed by the feeling of freefalling.

Scootaloo, having the instincts of a flying being, reacted by beating her wings fiercely to gain enough updraft and break her fall. It really wasn't enough for a softer landing than her friends', who crashed to the ground – floor? – with small thuds.

"Owww… did anyone take note of the cutie mark?" groaned a dizzy Apple Bloom, attempting to get back up on her hooves. After a little while, she gave up and lay back down, holding her head where it had met the ground.

The pegasus, a little less disoriented than her earthen counterpart, shook her head to clear up the stars still in her vision. She was met with no success. "I don't even know what happened…" she slurred.

"Ah don't know either. Ah just remember us enterin' the library after Spike, an' then that big WHOOSH, an' now we're here and-" Apple Bloom was cut off by a soft moan she recognized instantly. "Sweetie Belle?"

On one of the dark room's corners sat the little unicorn, moaning pitifully as she attempted to get up, looking even worse off than Apple Bloom was. A quiet grunt, and the sound of splashing came to the fillies' ears.

Despite her repulse, Scootaloo only wrinkled her nose as she stepped closer. "Sweetie Belle?"

The unicorn's retching diminished in intensity, down to dry heaves, and from that to heavy breathing. "My… my head hurts…" she moaned, "and my horn…"

"Come on, Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom's over there, let's at least get to her..." the pegasus encouraged, stepping close to help her friend walk.

The complete darkness weighed down on the dazed and sickened young ponies as they huddled together in a search for comfort. Not much time passed before all three were in a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>Twilight blinked. Then she blinked again. '<em>What just happened?'<em> she thought as she looked around the library, which seemed normal except for three things.

One, Spike was slumped at the foot of the stairs, breathing raggedly with a hand over his chest.

Two, the Princess was sitting on her haunches, sweating profusely, with a distant, shocked look in her eyes.

And three, the floor around them was drenched with an unnatural liquid, an incorporeal substance with the consistency of both mist and molasses at the same time.

As it was, going first for her assistant, who, unlike Celestia, looked hurt, was a no-brainer. Spike was breathing a little more easily by the time she reached her, and looked at her with confused eyes. "Twilight… what did you do?"

"I don't know, Spike. I didn't even notice I was doing anything." She nuzzled him. "How do you feel?"

"Not very good…" the dragon admitted, stumbling onto his feet. Twilight offered a leg to support his efforts, and he smiled weakly at her. She took it as an 'okay' sign and readied herself to lift the baby dragon onto her back.

Of all things, the unicorn wasn't expecting to launch him at the ceiling with a speed that would make Rainbow Dash jealous. He landed with an 'oof' on her back. "Oh my goodness, Spike, I'm so sorry!" she immediately stammered, startled out of her wits.

Spike shook his head to put his spinning eyes back in place, rubbing his sore head. "Ow. What was that all about now?"

"I-I don't know! I just tried to lift you to my back, and that happened! It's like I have no control over my magic!"

"Twilight…" a voice called from nearby. Celestia, now a little more recovered, stood up and walked gingerly over to the two. "Are you two okay?" The dual nods tranquilized the alicorn to an extent. "What about the foals?"

"Foals?" Spike asked, confused. "There weren't any foals here, Princess."

Celestia blinked. "I distinctly remember hearing at least three children's voices calling us when we stopped…" At that, her eyes wandered to the entrance, where something red caught her attention. Propelled by the breeze, a mane bow rolled off outside, and Celestia focused to get a hold of it.

The bow exploded like a firecracker, its ashes scattering all around by the pure force of the blast. And once again, Equestria's head of government was left speechless.

"Princess…" Twilight broke the uncertain silence.

"My magic…" Celestia mumbled to herself, eyeing the cinders. Then, the alicorn looked at the mana flowing between their hooves, and did something no one would expect – she uttered a quiet curse. "Spike, lock down all doors and windows. Twilight Sparkle, collect the book we were reading. We have much to discuss and do."

The urgent, stern tone didn't leave any room for hesitance or questioning, and the two quickly moved to fulfill their orders.

* * *

><p>A sudden, piercing noise scared the young trio awake. It rang out again immediately after, but this time, Scootaloo beamed. That ear-piercing whoosh of air, of something flying extremely fast, could only mean one thing. "Rainbow Dash!" she yelled in joy, pacing around in circles.<p>

"Scootaloo, not so loud, please…" Sweetie Belle complained, holding her head. "My head is still pounding."

"Sorry, Sweetie Belle. But listen, Rainbow Dash is out there!"

"Y'all say it like y'didn't expect that," Apple Bloom remarked.

The filly's mood soured. "Ugh, don't you guys get it? If Rainbow Dash is outside, we're near Ponyville! We just have to get outta this room." She moved to the thin line of light reflecting off the floor and tried to push the lower flaps of the door open. They didn't budge. "Ugh, I can't see anything, this place is too dark! Sweetie Belle, can you give us some light?"

"Hold on, let me try…"

A moment later, a light flickered on the horn of the trio's unicorn, who stared at it in awe. "Wow, Sweetie Belle, yer improvin'!" Apple Bloom cheered. "Ya didn't do it so easily before!"

The white foal nodded absentmindedly. Every time she had tried to use her magic before, it commonly didn't work, or backfired outright, which usually resulted in her being sick and dizzy for a few hours. Nurse Redheart, at Rarity's request, had examined her, and came up with a simple diagnosis: Sweetie Belle had problems with mana control. It was a normal condition, which would be taken care of naturally as she aged. For the time being, what little she could cast required her to focus some more and do it slowly. Telekinesis was out of question.

However, the light she had summoned came up both abnormally quickly and surprisingly easily. Furthermore, it relieved her of the aches she still felt. But this magic, it was… 'smooth', without the 'spikes' and 'edges' she felt her mana normally had; it was like she wasn't using her own powers. It was strange, but it felt good.

"Hey, guys, look!" Scootaloo interrupted, pointing at the door: instead of the usual semi-oval shape with three flaps, this door was a solid wood rectangle with a doorknob much higher up than any they had ever seen before. It was like they were in a giant's house.

A quick scan around their claustrum revealed other things, all of them a lot bigger than normal: a bed, a nightstand, and an open wardrobe, its contents, which they found out were clothes, strewn all over the place.

Forgetting all about their current situation, the Crusaders dug in, giggling happily. "Look at me! I'm a super-heroine!" Sweetie Belle called, a large towel tied around her neck like a cape.

"Ah'm a fashion superstar!" Apple Bloom called, balancing a comically large set of star-shaped glasses on her snout.

Scootaloo emerged from the pile of garments wearing an overly large t-shirt with an logo saying 'AC-DC' on it. "Doesn't this look cool?"

They continued frolicking on the fabrics, laughing and cracking jokes, until the same noise that woke them up rang out again. This time, it wasn't a scary chord, but a sound of joy.

The massive explosion that knocked them clear off their hooves and shook whatever building they were in to its very foundations killed the mood in an instant.

"W-what in tarnation?!" Apple Bloom stuttered out, struggling to get out from under the pile of clothes that had swallowed her.

Before any of the others could answer, a voice came from outside. "STOP BOMBING US!"

The three remembered they were most likely in the room of somepony that didn't like the idea of sudden and unknown visitors on their quarters, and would be rather miffed at the mess they had made. Or worse, a bad-tempered, foal-eating giant!

In an example of subconscious teamwork, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stood side by side, while Scootaloo jumped on their backs and twisted the irritatingly rounded knob with her mouth, finally opening the door. The area outside didn't seem populated, so they scurried out, only to stop and cover their noses with their hooves. "Ewww, what's this smell?" Sweetie Belle complained. "It's worse than the Everfree Forest!"

A strange bellow, deep, raspy and a little choked, very reminiscent of an angry cow. And then a yell, "CHARGER!"

A shrill, angry **'MOOOOOO!'**. Fast, heavy steps. A deep noise of something heavy hitting stone. More yells, and then something the fillies could only think of as somepony setting off many fireworks of different types at once. A pitifully weak groan, and then silence.

Then, a shape emerged on the doorway seeping light into the room.

* * *

><p>A witch left behind crying undisturbed, one less hunter in the world, and now a charger taken out without incident. In Coach's opinion, it was some <em>really<em> quiet going since they'd left the last safe house at very early dawn. Of course, the flyboys doing their best to level the city block they were running through – to cover a retreat, according to Nick – soured things a lot. They had to hurry; who knew when they'd pick the bridge as a target, and if they did before they'd crossed it to the CEDA evac...

He glued his back to the wall and peeked through the door-less entrance in front of him. It was clear – no zombies, no noises, just the darkness of an abandoned jazz club like the one they'd been through in Rayford. "Clear! Get inside, people!"

Rochelle went in first, followed by Ellis and himself, with Nick pulling the caboose. Ellis went to one of the benches and sat down for a second to adjust the scope of his newly-acquired rifle, while the others made a sweep of the other rooms close by. Nick grunted in approval as he looked at something in the adjacent room, not far from them.

As Ellis screwed one of the bolts a little tighter, something called his eye. He stood up to look behind one of the benches, and his pupils glinted. "Well, lookie over here…"

As Nick tore off strips of cloth from the bodies at one corner of the bar, thinking of the sin he was going to commit to good beverage, he heard footsteps behind him. "What'cha got, champ?" he asked, knowing who it was without even looking.

Ellis lifted his catch proudly to eye level. "Fifty bucks, all mine!"

"Yeah, great, save them to buy us a drink when we're outta here." The former con man knew better than to call Ellis out on his weird tendencies after so much time with him. Besides, Keith's tales, an obsession with amusement park rides, and plain and simple harmless lunacy were an always welcome break from the daily struggles and pains they faced. Not that he wouldn't drop dead before admitting it, of course.

"A'ight. Say, what's that yer doin', Mollies?"

"Wanna help?"

"Sure!"

* * *

><p>"Did ya see that?" Apple Bloom asked after the weird creature with the stallion voice disappeared through the doorway. "That thing talked!"<p>

"I'm just happy that he didn't see us," Sweetie Belle whispered. Unlike the other two, she wasn't exactly curious about the enormous talking ape-bear-pig thing.

If Scootaloo was afraid, she didn't show it as she strutted forwards and out of cover. "Where are you going, Scootaloo?" the unicorn questioned, a tone of urgency in her voice. "Get back here! If he sees you…"

"Oh, come on, that big guy's a doofus, he won't even know we're there! Let's see what he'll do!" With that, the pegasus ignored her friends' warnings and proceeded to peek past the doorway. Her target was in her sights, messing with something in the corner.

A movement distracted her, and she looked up. The creature in white, which seemed to have stopped messing with a bottle that for some reason had a rag on its mouth, looked back at her.

He blinked.

She blinked.

They blinked together.

* * *

><p>Nick's hand immediately went for the holster on his leg when the… thing, appeared on the doorway, but the sight made him reconsider. It was too small, too bright, and too steady in its movements – whatever it was, it wasn't an infected. Then, it looked straight at him with a surprised face.<p>

He analyzed the situation: irritability, lack of concentration, hallucinations… yeah, he knew what sleep deprivation could do to one's brain. "I need to get some more rest in..." But when he lowered the hand he'd just used to rub his eyes, the thing was still there, staring fixedly at him with a confused expression. "What the…?"

He took a step forward, bending down with a hand extended. Halfway through, the spot of orange seemed to notice his arm, its purple eyes locking straight onto his hand, and, with a scream, it ran away from him. The sound, shrill and terrified, startled him out of his confused reverie, and he yelled as well, falling on his rear down on the floor.

Ellis was with him in an instant. "Nick! The hell was that, man? Ya scared the shit outta me!"

The other two survivors came down, skipping the stairs in a sprint. "Nicolas?" Coach asked worriedly as Ellis helped him up to his feet. "We heard screaming from down here. You okay there?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He brushed off the hand on his shoulder, collected his trusty P226 and sneaked into the back hall of the jazz club, the way they had entered through. The others followed him, knowing something was wrong – Nick would normally retort to everything with an at least slightly snarky remark; for him not to say a thing, something was definitely off.

They watched as the younger man leaned to look under tables and behind benches, their fingers on the triggers. Eventually, the former criminal uttered a quiet 'what the hell?', which prompted them to approach. As they leaned down, each had different reactions.

Ellis made a confused face comparable to Rochelle upon her first contact with the mud men a week before.

Rochelle turned to look at Nick, looking just as befuddled as he was.

Coach arched an eyebrow. "You gotta be kidding me."

There, hidden in a corner of a deserted, run down jazz club in a zombie-riddled New Orleans, three creatures that could only be described as miniature cartoon ponies were huddled together, trembling under a table.

* * *

><p>As Celestia spoke, Twilight found her entrails in an increasingly tighter knot. "… so I cannot trust my magic. Whatever happened when we were reading this tome has amplified my powers far above what I believe is safe to test out," she finished.<p>

The smaller pony shook her head. "Just a second, Princess. Let me organize these thoughts."

"Very well," the alicorn said with a serene tone. "I can't ask you to help if you don't understand the situation."

Relieved by the free pass, Twilight nodded. "So, something in your book has altered our magic?"

"Yes."

"And some foals were caught in a spell you've cast unintentionally?"

"Precisely. A teleportation spell, to be exact. The pattern of mana ripping through dimensions is very characteristic."

"But, Princess, isn't it impossible for one to teleport anything if caster isn't included in the teleporting mass?"

Despite her grim mood, Celestia smiled fondly. Twilight was her favorite student for a reason. "And therein lies our problem. This variation of the teleportation spell has never been accounted for before. The Research Council has tried to make a variation where the caster doesn't have to move as well for over two millennia, but we've never had any success."

The younger mare's eyes lit up at that, the information overloading her synapses and common sense. "Princess! This is revolutionary! You have invented a completely new transportation spell!" Her mouth flew out of control as her mind was flooded with ideas of how the new variant of magic could be applied. And its uses! And how much they could discover from that! It was a completely new branch of magic!

An 'ahem' from her teacher brought her right back down to earth. "Twilight, while I appreciate the excitement, don't lose focus. I did not so much as cast the spell as much as my magic flared out of control, and right now, we have three foals somewhere out there, possibly in danger, and we have to get them back before something happens to them."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> **The clothes scene was shamelessly written for the d'aw factor alone. Sue me.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Taking action**

* * *

><p>"… and I think that's it."<p>

With a huff of relief, Spike dropped the quill and spun his wrist. Any claw cramps he'd ever had before were nothing compared to this… but then again, they had never scoured a literal thousand-page book, line per line, with this magnitude of attention before. It was an incredibly detailed analysis, even by Twilight's standards.

Twilight gently took the bundle of sheets from the desk with her lips and walked over to where her mentor sat, still fiddling with the practice set. Celestia had her brow furrowed and her eyes closed, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. Shakily, one block floated to the air, enveloped in an uneven yellow coat of light. The aura around the object quivered and spiked, as if demanding release.

The younger pony wasn't an expert in sensing, but even she could perceive how unstable the Princess' magic was acting, much like her own, but on a far greater scale. It was scary, actually – during her entire upbringing as her student, the unicorn had never seen a single unintentional fluctuation in Celestia's power. To see her role model having problems with controlling a simple levitation spell made her uncomfortable in a way she could not describe.

The block dropped lifelessly to the ground, and Celestia opened her eyes. Her gaze fell on the purple pony in front of her. "Can you feel it, Twilight?"

Said pony broke out of her own musings, blinking. "Hm?"

"I asked: can you feel it? Our magic – yes, 'our', I saw you are showing the same symptoms – is not only boosted, but it has gained an offensive trait; an edge, so to speak." The alicorn stood up, her hair whipping considerably more fiercely than usual, and ran a fetlock over her damp face. "I can't keep it balanced long enough to perform even a menial levitation spell."

After setting the papers down on the table, the apprentice tapped a hoof to her chin. "Yes, I noticed it too… It doesn't feel bad _per se_, but it's like every spell I attempt is altered to hurt somepony in one way or another." A moment of silence passed. "Maybe your book has something that explains it?"

Celestia shook her head. "I don't believe it is a good idea for us to lay eyes over those pages again, my dear. Our magic may flare again, and…"

The words were left hanging. There was no need to finish the sentence; its ominous point had already been made.

Another moment of silence stretched on and on, with neither pony knowing how to break the ice that had formed both between each other and in the pits of their stomachs. Uncomfortable, Celestia silently collected the recently written resume, while Twilight turned to look for Spike. Once again, the dragon was sitting, admiring the pool of mana on the library's floor with a peaceful, almost hypnotized expression. "Spike?"

With a jolt, her assistant was on his feet once more. "Oh, yeah? What now?"

"Nothing, I'm just wondering why you're always so fixated by this pool. It's just mana."

"I don't know either," he shrugged. "It just makes me feel calm. Maybe it's the swirling…"

"Swirling?" Twilight squinted a little in concentration, and saw that indeed the mana whirled, very slowly, but it did. There were colors as well, very faint wisps of pink, green and purple light that a cursory glance wouldn't catch. But there was more to it than just a magical lightshow, especially inside its eye. There was…

"I wonder what it is that you find so interesting in this."

Celestia's tone wasn't one of disapproval – in fact, it was rather amused –, but the startled librarian still felt like crawling into a hole. Twilight chided herself; it wasn't the time for sidetracking. "Sorry, Princess. Anyway, I've finished the resume you asked for."

The alicorn nodded. "Indeed, I was browsing through it, but I presume it's better if you explain it to me vocally. Reading it all would take time we don't exactly have."

She made a move to sit on one of the room's cushions, and Twilight, already entering what was often referred to as 'lecture mode', followed. Once they were comfortable, the purple pony began explaining. "This is what I've collected: the basic mechanic of the teleportation spell is that it 'bends' our dimension over itself, and links two separate spots: departure and destination."

The royal pony nodded quietly to show her attention. Both of them already knew these details, but a refresh might bring something up that might be overlooked otherwise.

"Theoretically, there is no limit for how far the spell can reach; that is only limited to the amount of mana used in the casting. And finally, there is a failsafe embedded in the pattern to ensure the safety of the caster and any load they may be transporting as well."

"And that failsafe consists of…?"

"A scan array that ensures the target is in an environment not critically different from the point of departure, both chemically and physically. In a nutshell, it detects the closest location to the destination that has atmospheric composition and pressure included within a certain threshold, so that the subject doesn't materialize inside of solid objects or harmful fluids, including toxic air."

"Excellent work, Twilight Sparkle." Said filly beamed. Praise from her tutor always made her feel good, no matter what the situation was. "This reduces our field of search in quite a bit, and ensures that wherever they were sent to is at least relatively safe, yes?"

"Yes, exactly." She frowned. "But you said you cannot sense them with your magic as it is, Princess, and there is no way for anypony to track the transported. How can we find them, even if our search area is smaller?"

'_And so we return to the grim aspects…'_ "Unfortunately, this is where we reach a bit of an impasse. I do have an idea of what could quell the fluctuations and allow me to try and sense them, but it will take some work. Firstly, I need you to gather your friends, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony."

Twilight was taken aback at that. "The Elements?…"

A wave of a hoof quieted her. "Let's cross that bridge when we get to it, my faithful student. For now, I kindly ask you to gather your friends. I will explain it when you are all assembled."

* * *

><p>The door led to another, darker room. It was hard to see what it actually was, with the little light there was coming from three low-power torchlights. The smell of it tortured the ponies' nostrils, its aroma of rot, dust and rusty metal inflaming their senses.<p>

"Listen, sweetie, I'm gonna put you down, alright?" Rochelle said to Scootaloo. "I need my two arms free to defend us." The filly nodded shakily, and was set down onto the wooden floor. "Stick close."

Behind her, Ellis did the same, and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom took the opportunity to get close to their friend while the Georgian collected one of the molotovs from the counter. "Guys?" the pegasus asked.

"Y'alright, Scoots?" Apple Bloom responded. "Yer not hurt, are ya?"

"Kinda…" she confessed. Had there been more light, the angry bruises around her little body would have been clearly visible. The pain of the compression had made it hard for her to take a deep breath, and woe forbid the thought of moving her wings even a millimeter. "That thing did a number on me."

"That smoker?" Ellis interrupted. "Yeah, those sons o' bitches are nasty. When they get ya, only way out is to cut the tongue or kill 'em."

"Th-them?" the pegasus asked, her voice faltering. "You mean there's more than one?"

"Lots more." He grimaced. "Ah think of all the people that turned, one outta ten are smokers."

Another bomb went off, rattling the booze bottles off the shelves. The ponies recoiled as if struck, and Ellis flinched. "Alright, that reminds me, we gotta keep movin'. C'mon."

The Crusaders reluctantly fell in pace with the human, cantering to his walk speed. Apple Bloom mustered what little courage she could and asked, "What's goin' on?"

"What, ya mean the bombs?"

The child stared blankly at his back.

Before he could continue, they stepped beyond an archway into a room full of flipped chairs and overturned tables, and hushed voices made their way into their ears.

"I'm telling you people, this is a bad idea. We're barely standing as it is, we can't just be charitable. Hell, we don't even know what those things are!"

Ellis stopped, paying attention to the conversation he unintentionally eavesdropped on. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, all of which were less than distracted by the voices, looked around the new room. The place had a stage – going by the bottles strewn on the floor and lying on the counter and the deactivated light cannons, it seemed like a spot where parties took place. Seeing it dead, dark and covered in bodies and blood made for an absurdly eerie sight, and the trio moved closer to Ellis, anxious to get away from it.

"Nicolas, do you remember Vergil?" Ellis recognized Coach's voice. "How he had no food, just a bit of fresh water, and almost no fuel? And how he still went to that plantation to save our asses? That guy got us outta that swamp, shared the lil' bit he had with us, and never asked for payback."

"Yeah, well, unless you forgot Ducatel, we had ways to return the favor."

* * *

><p>The set of telekinesis blocks lay beside the manuscript, both forgotten on the table. Their user had left them in favor of pacing back and forth, deep in a brainstorm session. '<em>Sure enough, there's no way for me to track them directly, but there must be an indirect way, a trail to follow. Every magic leaves a residual… effect…' <em>

She unconsciously turned to the mana pool. It wasn't a mere absentminded search for a distraction, she knew it – something was pulling very lightly on the edge of her mind, almost as a physical sensation… and that force came from the center of the eddy her surrogate children were so immersed in.

Even after she closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to concentrate, it took the aurora-maned mare a while to recognize it: her mana was being siphoned from her. It was an absolutely insignificant amount even to her magic at normal levels, and with the impulse she had received, actively feeling it actually took more effort than the drain itself. '_How long has this been happening for? It can't have been long, the pool doesn't have a noteworthy concentration of my mana. Unless…' _

She tried to extend her magic sense, to feel through the faint line, but no matter how hard she concentrated, no matter how hard she tried to rein her magic in, the power seeped through; if she pressed more, the sheer tension of the control would cause even more mayhem on the output, further increasing the spikes of power. There was no middle ground in it; she couldn't read even the energy within her own being. '_No use; I'll have to do this later. I just hope this link still exists by the time we are done…'_

A subtle knocking on the door broke the alicorn out of her thoughts. Opening it a notch, just enough for her to take a peek outside without being seen, she saw a mass of blue, white, yellow, pink, purple and yellow. The bearers had arrived.

However, another thing called her attention: the sun was at its zenith, much higher up in the sky than she had expected. '_Oh no…'_

Opening the door just barely enough for the average female pony to fit through, she called them in with a strict voice, "Quick, inside. No questions until all are in."

One by one, the sextet entered the library, Pinkie Pie being the first, followed by Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and finally, her student. The fashionista and the farmer were fidgeting quite noticeably, even though the rest of them, particularly Twilight, weren't too far behind in terms of agitation. They all bowed, a gesture she paid no attention to as she closed the door.

"Girls, it's very fortunate that you managed to come. Without any of you, this would be a lost cause." She noticed the obvious increase in their discomfort. "I'm sorry to usher you in such short notice, and will not waste your time. The Elements of Harmony are needed again."

Discomfort turned to shock.

"No, Nightmare Moon hasn't returned. It's not about any threats to Equestria's security, either."

"Um, 'scuse me, Yer Highness," Applejack said, "but will this take long? Y'see…"

"… there are three foals missing from the town," Rarity completed. "Mine and Applejack's sisters, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, and their friend, Scootaloo. We were in the middle of organizing a search party."

Celestia's neutral expression didn't betray the block of solid nitrogen that dropped in her belly. Twilight, her mane slightly disheveled, moved to the front of the group. "Princess, girls… I think there may be a parallel here."

"Parallel?" The blonde pony narrowed her eyes. "Twi', are ya hidin' somethin' from us?"

An awkward grin and some beads of sweat on Twilight's brow betrayed the answer.

The farmer's ears pulled back tight against her head. "Twilight Sparkle, if y'all know somethin' 'bout what happened to mah sister, ya better tell me now," she continued sternly, taking a step forwards for emphasis.

"Ahem," Celestia cleared her throat loudly, garnering the general attention. "Girls, I know the situation is dire, but please, let's maintain our calm. Twilight…" Her gaze asked the question in the minds of everypony present.

The purple unicorn kicked at nothing with a foreleg, clearly distressed. "Princess, you said you had heard a few foals during the… incident. Do you remember that red bow you tried to grab?" There was another moment of pregnant silence, during which Applejack's expression twisted into something unreadable. "Well… I've never seen anypony else use a similar bow, except for Applejack's sister, Apple Bloom."

That broke the dam. Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash rushed to Twilight, rapid-firing question after question, while Fluttershy paced around frantically in circles while muttering to herself. Pinkie Pie sat still, even quieter than before – Celestia swore she could hear gears gnashing their teeth together above her head. Another 'ahem', notably louder this time, was necessary to restore order.

"Very well, it seems we have come to a conclusion: at least three of the children we have lost are the same you are looking for. As insensitive as it may sound, this diminishes our workload. Now then, since we know both issues are one and the same, will you help me, my little ponies?" A mix of nods and positive verbal responses made her smile. "Excellent, I knew I could count on you. As such, let us tell you exactly what happened."

"So, y'all were tryin' a spellbook and the girls interrupted, and the spell did some thingamajig that it shouldn't have?"

Twilight nodded solemnly. "And that's why we need your help." She turned to Equestria's sovereign. "Princess?"

"We may have a chance of bringing them back, but as we've explained, I have a factor of instability in my magic. That is where you come in, girls: I need you to use the Elements of Harmony to purify me and get it under control again."

A collective gasp resonated from the group. "But, but Your Highness," Fluttershy asked, concerned, "aren't the Elements supposed to be used against evil? I-I mean…"

Celestia smiled. "Do not worry, child. The Elements of Harmony have their name for a reason: they bring harmony and order to the world when they are activated. That is not limited to smiting evil; they can heal and restore just as easily."

The relieved silence that followed was broken by her student. "But, Princess, after we defeated Nightmare Moon, you took the Elements to Canterlot for safekeeping. How are we supposed to use them if we don't have them?"

That was a problem Celestia had considered. It would be problematic for her to simply leave the library, let alone go to Canterlot. Even if it wasn't, it was too far to gallop, and she wasn't sure the unbalance that ailed her magic had affected her pegasus abilities. With their uncertain time constraints, she didn't want to make an attempt. The mail option wasn't viable, either: nopony would take a letter explaining the current situation seriously if it wasn't written by the alicorn herself, who had no real way to write a message – as much as she would like to deny it, magic was so much more convenient for writing than using one's mouth that, like many unicorns she had seen through the ages, her mouthwriting skills were rusty at best and illegible at worst –, and even if she could, she would not risk burning the letter to Luna as usual with her magic out of control as it was. There was Spike, but he didn't have the necessary information to direct the mail to her sister, the only other pony in Equestria with the ability to access the vault where the Elements were now kept.

Fortunately, one did not use the Elements twice without learning at least a little more than general knowledge. "Twilight, am I right to believe this library still has a copy of The Elements Of Harmony – A Reference Guide?"

She had barely finished the sentence before a purple hand holding a large tome appeared in her vision. "This one?" Spike asked.

"Why, yes indeed! Very efficient, Spike."

The compliment left the baby dragon's cheeks colored a funny shade of pink, and most of the mares present couldn't hold their amused giggles in.

Soon the moment of reprieve waned, though, and the book was opened. A gold-plated hoof ran over the index's contents, browsing to the 'appendix' section right afterwards. "Here, I found it. '… though the Elements of Harmony themselves are the most efficient and powerful way to harness the bearers' power, there is one known alternate method. Through the usage of the Sigil of Harmony – refer to page 866 for details – the power of the bearers can be unleashed in a lesser scale.'"

The sheets whipped past their eyes until the number 866 could be read at the foot of the page. Above it was an explanation on the steps necessary for the preparations, which, to general relief, were surprisingly simple. "Firstly, the sigil must be drawn on a perfectly flat surface, clockwise from Honesty to uh huh, to... mmhmm... and finally Loyalty," Celestia read out loud. She turned to her subjects. "There is very little room for flaws here; one misguided point will unbalance the matrix." A gold-clad hoof scratched at the floor. "Unfortunately, at the present time, I cannot successfully do it myself. I must ask of one of you to draw the sigil for us."

The white-coated unicorn of the group took a step forwards. "Your Highness, if you'll excuse me, it shall most likely be no problem to a fashionista worth her salt such as myself," she said in her usual slightly posh, but good-natured, tone, hiding well her previous nervousness. Less than five minutes later, Rarity was done with her self-assigned task, the large sigil drawn with almost mathematical precision.

"Excellent work, my little pony," Celestia complimented. "Now for the next part: the bearers must stand in their respective spots over the sigil…" she pointed to the spots on the edges of the pentagon on the floor as she read, "… and attempt to invoke forth the power of their respective elements. If you may…"

They all took their positions, with Twilight in the central point. As one, they closed their eyes. "Remember, girls, it's not a matter of forcing it out," the studious one reminded them. "Just think of the good things we've been through together, the obstacles we overcame, and the lessons we learned."

However, even with that advice in mind, it didn't seem to work. One by one, the Ponyville mares opened their eyes, looking amongst themselves at first with confusion, then deject. That is, all but one. Having learned, and gained, the most out of all of them in their experiences together, Twilight Sparkle didn't break her focus, and slowly, as drops trickling down the aqueduct of memory, it all came to her. The brunch with the Apples. The welcoming party to Ponyville, courtesy of Pinkie Pie. The end results of the ticket dispute. Helping Applejack out of her stubborn fit during the apple harvest. The parasprite invasion. The Zecora affair. Accepting Pinkie's sense. The amiable end of the Running Of The Leaves. Supporting Rainbow Dash in Cloudsdale, earning her the first place on the Best Young Flyer Competition. Fluttershy standing up to the dragon after she realized the way her friends had suffered in his claws. And above everything, Nightmare Moon, and the consolidation of their bond.

She felt lightweight, joyous, and oh so peaceful. If the enhancement provided by the tome felt good, this was positively divine.

The emblem she stood on began to radiate light, the inky lines of the sigil turning white as the magic flowed through them, trickling over the lines like fluid filling a crevasse. First Applejack, then Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and finally Rainbow Dash, all were engulfed by the gentle power emanating from the unicorn. Assaulted by the same jolly sensation as their friend, they closed their eyes a second time.

Suddenly, a pillar of light the exact size of the sigil hid their features, allowing Celestia to see only dark silhouettes of the bearers. Twilight opened her eyes, two empty holes pouring white light, and from the top of the phenomenon, a double helix of rainbow-coloured light beams shot up and swirled around an invisible pivot, conjoining high above in a single wave that hurtled towards the alicorn.

Relaxing all of her muscles and forcing her mind clean, the princess waited.

* * *

><p>As they reached a small stop inbetween the set of stairs Ellis was climbing up, and Sweetie Belle, at the head of the Crusaders, turned to continue, she was stopped by one of her friends. "Sweetie Belle, wait jus' a sec… Is that… yer cutie mark?"<p>

The unicorn stopped dead in her tracks, her vision snapping towards her flank, and sure enough, a wide emblem of a yellow and gold sun was emblazoned on it.

Her cutie mark. _Her_ cutie mark. The one thing that she had yearned for almost her entire foalhood, the one reason she had banded together with her two fellow blank flanks, and the cause of so many embarrassments and pains from the crusading they did in search for them.

She felt like she should be prancing with joy… but the very idea of happiness about it only existed in her head; her heart was void of it. Of course, it was a unique event, the coming of age for anypony, and something worth a very special celebration, but the present situation overshadowed it, glooming her senses so much she could only see her cutie mark as a useless decoration. "Yeah…" she muttered as she turned ahead and continued climbing up.

"Hey, what do you mean with 'yeah'? It's your cutie mark, for crying out loud!" Scootaloo interjected indignantly. Even the shock of the current situation couldn't hold her bafflement back. "That's, like, the thing you joined the Crusaders for! And now you have it; you're almost a grown up now, Sweetie Belle! Why aren't you happy?!"

"Scoots… I'm sorry. I just… I think my head is a bit full right now," she said. The chalk-white pony was comforted by the silence that indicated her friends relenting; though she knew it wasn't over, and they would ask a ton of questions later, that they respected her want for silence at the moment made her feel warm inside.

At the top of the stairs, they were greeted by the sight of Coach and Rochelle, both looking rather grumpy, in a discussion with an annoyed Nick. The light-skinned man noticed them first. "Speak of the devil," he said as he stood up from the pool table he was leaning on.

They flinched collectively against his hard tone. "Nick…" Rochelle drawled sternly. "Did you forget what we were talking about just now?"

"What, that I think this is gonna get us killed? We haven't met them even ten minutes ago, and they're already slowing us down! Ro, it's not a matter of me liking them or not, it's a matter of them being a liability we don't need!"

"Nick, do I have to remind you that, when we met, you were a shady fellow that sounded like you'd stick a knife up our backs the moment you didn't need us anymore?" Coach retorted. "You ain't one to talk much about liabilities."

Nick opened his mouth to say something, but closed it back again and just sighed, placing one hand on his forehead. "All right, fine, but I'm not gonna play babysitter."

Apple Bloom huffed in irritation, despite the silent threat in the former criminal's mannerisms. "Mistah, ah'd rather y'all know we may be young, but we ain't no babies either. We can take care of ourselves jes' dandy."

That confrontational resolve vanished at the threatening metallic **'clack'** when Nick pulled menacingly on the cocking handle of the Russian-made rifle he was carrying. "Says the one whose friend ran straight into a Smoker's tongue."

Scootaloo blushed and shivered at the same time. "I didn't know that… that thing was out there, alright?" she retored indignantly.

Apple Bloom, however, had latched onto another part of the phrase. "What is a 'smoker' anyway?"

The con man didn't answer, moving carefully to a door on the other side of the room, rifle raised and ready. The yellow filly turned her eyes to the woman of the group, who sighed. "Never mind Nick, he's just a bit untreatable at first. He can be nice… sometimes. Mostly when he's not hungry or sleepy."

It was obvious that the pony didn't fully buy the story. "If ya say so... But what's a 'smoker'?"

"Tall, lanky, got more tongues than a starfish got arms," came the response from behind her, with a Southern accent. "Keeps waitin' somewhere high up, like a roof or somethin', an' when someone pass, they get snared just like a calf on a rodeo." Ellis lifted his shirt up to his chest, showing a number of faint purple marks among the various bruises and small lacerations on his skin, like he had been wrapped by rope that was tied far too tight against his torso. "See?"

"Ugh, that looks painful," Sweetie Belle commented, raising one foreleg in a reflex of self-preservation. Apple Bloom shared her opinion, if the surprised grimace she had on was any indication. The pegasus of the trio just shivered, looking away at her own body. Under the orange strands of her coat, the marks were more or less the same as his, she could tell that much.

"Sure is. And y'all better hope ya have a knife or somethin' to cut the tongue, 'cause if ya don't, there ain't no way in Hell y'all gonna get loose if someone don't go an' help yer ass."

"Ellis, sweetie, can't this wait?" Rochelle interrupted him. "We really gotta keep a move on."

"You got it, Ro."

With that, he set his clothes back down, and the five left the hall, moving towards the door Nick had gone through. As they found out, it led to a small catwalk taking to a small office. Beyond the handrail lay the back area of the bar, comprised of a small storage place with the shutters open.

Inside the small office to the right, the man in the dirty white suit scrounging through the contents of a small crate looked back at the entourage and grunted. "Thirty-two, three-five-seven, thirty-oh-six... Guy bought out a gun shop, left it all behind, but forgot to get calibers actually worth a crap." He tossed a box of .22 Long Rifle rounds against the wall. "Damn it!"

"Figures…" Coach sighed. "We're really only gonna get the bores we need at those evac outposts, aren't we?"

"Guys, there's no ladder down," Rochelle observed from the suspended junction. "We're gonna have to take the express route."

"Is it too high?"

"Not exactly, but there's a soda machine we can climb down to. Beats leaping all the way down."

"Sounds good to me. C'mon, everyone, we're leaving."

Rochelle went first, carefully propping her feet down on the top of the machine, praying to whatever entity was out there for the roof not to sink under her feet. Once she was sure it was stable enough, she gestured for the fillies to come, and set them down one by one, whereas they jumped to the floor below. The process was somewhat laborious, but in the end, all seven made it to the bottom without injury. An open shutter led to a back alley completely devoid of life or useful objects.

Nick continued ahead around a corner, leading the group into the entrance of an apartment building offering a better way ahead than having to jump over the fence at the end of the alleyway. "God, I hate blocked paths," the fillies could hear him grumble.

"It's so quiet here…" Scootaloo mused as they reached a door, with Nick leaned against the wall right beside it.

"Hope it stays that way," Rochelle said, keeping her eyes glued to the way they had come through.

With a quick exchange of gestures, the con man let his elder take point - the extremely wide choke on his shotgun might not have much ground for range, but the cone of buckshot showed itself deadly against clusters of former humans. Coach opened the door and, two spent shells later, motioned for the others to come in. As they did, the humans turned on their torches, while Sweetie Belle called upon the magic within her, making her horn light up and providing the Crusaders with a way to watch their own steps. The silence was oppressive, overwhelming, filling the heads of all with ominous uncertainty.

A supersonic boom startled them out of their minds, and the following explosion, strong enough to rattle the foundations of the structure they were in the process of exploring, sent them all rushing for shelter. Coach and Ellis ran on upstairs, while Nick and Rochelle huddled in a corner on the ground floor, the quadruped children trembling next to their legs. Once the ground was still again, they breathed a sigh of relief. "That was a close one," Ellis sighed, mostly to himself, though he nonetheless received a few assertive responses in return.

Scootaloo tried to control her breath, even as her psych wished to break down into a nervous mess. Not an hour prior, she was prancing about Ponyville with her two best friends, thinking of ways to earn their so-craved cutie marks, with no worries in her head except for taking care of her scooter and keeping her grades high enough. Then, with a burst of light, they were in a strange place full of monsters and explosions – it wasn't nearly as cool as she would have dreamed, to boot –, depending on four strange creatures that looked like nothing she had ever seen, one of which had no reservations in showing how much he didn't like them. To make it worse, Sweetie Belle had a cutie mark, but didn't even pay any attention to it. '_When did the world turn upside down?'_

As Sweetie Belle bounded up to the third floor and through another broken wall – '_Doesn't anypony know what doors are around here?'_ – she noticed the three older humans quietly discussing something in the middle of the bedroom they were in. An open door on the opposite side gave leeway to a sound she hadn't heard before, a deep, heavy snarling. "Aw, hogwash, man…" Ellis cursed, looking outside.

"Y'all eat hogwash?" Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head to the side.

At that exact moment, a very quiet grumble filled the room, and Ellis put a hand on his stomach, but he didn't answer.

Quietly, the ponies moved to see whatever it was that held the young man's attention so much. What they saw would certainly not get out of their heads easily: a positively enormous creature, vaguely similar to the Crusaders' companions, but very different at the same time – between its much stockier build, overly muscled arms and hunched over posture, it looked more like a shaved gorilla than anything else – paced around the courtyard below. It stomped around and scratched at the floor, leaning forwards at every louder growl it uttered, seemingly angry at the world and some more. They all ran back inside as the beast turned their way. "What's… what is that thing?" Sweetie Belle whimpered pitifully from behind Coach's leg.

Coach sighed. "Should've known shit was going way too smoothly…"

"So, how do we do this?" Rochelle asked. She moved to the doorframe for a quick peek, standing with her back to the wall. "All of these buildings around us are pure wood, so fire's not exactly an option. Do we do it the usual way?"

Once again, the – very relative – peace was interrupted by a sonic boom and an explosion not too far off. The Tank let out an ear-splitting roar as it beat on its chest, bounding out of a corner and out of sight, with the ground literally shaking under its limbs as it left. The fillies stepped further back at the sheer volume of its voice, their ears pulled back.

"Well," Rochelle, who had been watching the turn of events, deadpanned, "that was convenient…" She stepped outside, both head and rifle on a swivel. "We're clear, guys."

One by one, the posse left the dilapidated bedroom. Coach veered to the right, following the walkway to a small drop onto a rooftop, next to which stood a scaffold. "Look over there! Safe house ahead!" he hollered to the others, pointing to a drawing on another building. "Just gotta cross that gap!"

A show of dull color caught Scootaloo's eye. It belonged to the head of a jester, affixed to an unfinished parade car. The planks on it were on level with the gap she'd been made aware of, just sufficient for a makeshift bridge. "Can't we use that?"

The small-ish voice grated on Nick's nerves, but curiosity had him looking down at the object the pony was indicating anyway. Sure enough, the cart was connected to a tractor – one that seemed to be in working condition. "Looks like it. We just gotta move that tractor."

Ellis took the initiative to move down and inspect the draft vehicle as soon as he was sure the others were covering him. It was a little battered after a few days of exposure, but the fuel level was above the red and the engine seemed to be in good condition. "Looks like it's gonna work!" he announced. His hand floated over the tractor's startup key. "Can ah?"

"Sho sho, boy!"

"I got your back!"

"Whenever you're ready."

Satisfied by the three verbal nods, the mechanic turned the key and engaged the first gear. The float started moving as expected. '_Lookin' good, lookin' good...'_

The young southerner immediately rescinded that line when the float began spouting out a cheery jazz tune… at over a hundred decibels. "SHIT, THIS DAMN THING HAS A SOUND SYSTEM?!"

The end of his outcry was almost overshadowed by an almost deafening roar. The Tank had returned to its turf, and it fully intended to find out who was messing around in it.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Remember, season 1. That means no complete railroads.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3: Taking action**

* * *

><p>"… and I think that's it."<p>

With a huff of relief, Spike dropped the quill and spun his wrist. Any claw cramps he'd ever had before were nothing compared to this… but then again, they had never scoured a literal thousand-page book, line per line, with this magnitude of attention before. It was an incredibly detailed analysis, even by Twilight's standards.

Twilight gently took the bundle of sheets from the desk with her lips and walked over to where her mentor sat, still fiddling with the practice set. Celestia had her brow furrowed and her eyes closed, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. Shakily, one block floated to the air, enveloped in an uneven yellow coat of light. The aura around the object quivered and spiked, as if demanding release.

The younger pony wasn't an expert in sensing, but even she could perceive how unstable the Princess' magic was acting, much like her own, but on a far greater scale. It was scary, actually – during her entire upbringing as her student, the unicorn had never seen a single unintentional fluctuation in Celestia's power. To see her role model having problems with controlling a simple levitation spell made her uncomfortable in a way she could not describe.

The block dropped lifelessly to the ground, and Celestia opened her eyes. Her gaze fell on the purple pony in front of her. "Can you feel it, Twilight?"

Said pony broke out of her own musings, blinking. "Hm?"

"I asked: can you feel it? Our magic – yes, 'our', I saw you are showing the same symptoms – is not only boosted, but it has gained an offensive trait; an edge, so to speak." The alicorn stood up, her hair whipping considerably more fiercely than usual, and ran a fetlock over her damp face. "I can't keep it balanced long enough to perform even a menial levitation spell."

After setting the papers down on the table, the apprentice tapped a hoof to her chin. "Yes, I noticed it too… It doesn't feel bad _per se_, but it's like every spell I attempt is altered to hurt somepony in one way or another." A moment of silence passed. "Maybe your book has something that explains it?"

Celestia shook her head. "I don't believe it is a good idea for us to lay eyes over those pages again, my dear. Our magic may flare again, and…"

The words were left hanging. There was no need to finish the sentence; its ominous point had already been made.

Another moment of silence stretched on and on, with neither pony knowing how to break the ice that had formed both between each other and in the pits of their stomachs. Uncomfortable, Celestia silently collected the recently written resume, while Twilight turned to look for Spike. Once again, the dragon was sitting, admiring the pool of mana on the library's floor with a peaceful, almost hypnotized expression. "Spike?"

With a jolt, her assistant was on his feet once more. "Oh, yeah? What now?"

"Nothing, I'm just wondering why you're always so fixated by this pool. It's just mana."

"I don't know either," he shrugged. "It just makes me feel calm. Maybe it's the swirling…"

"Swirling?" Twilight squinted a little in concentration, and saw that indeed the mana whirled, very slowly, but it did. There were colors as well, very faint wisps of pink, green and purple light that a cursory glance wouldn't catch. But there was more to it than just a magical lightshow, especially inside its eye. There was…

"I wonder what it is that you find so interesting in this."

Celestia's tone wasn't one of disapproval – in fact, it was rather amused –, but the startled librarian still felt like crawling into a hole. Twilight chided herself; it wasn't the time for sidetracking. "Sorry, Princess. Anyway, I've finished the resume you asked for."

The alicorn nodded. "Indeed, I was browsing through it, but I presume it's better if you explain it to me vocally. Reading it all would take time we don't exactly have."

She made a move to sit on one of the room's cushions, and Twilight, already entering what was often referred to as 'lecture mode', followed. Once they were comfortable, the purple pony began explaining. "This is what I've collected: the basic mechanic of the teleportation spell is that it 'bends' our dimension over itself, and links two separate spots: departure and destination."

The royal pony nodded quietly to show her attention. Both of them already knew these details, but a refresh might bring something up that might be overlooked otherwise.

"Theoretically, there is no limit for how far the spell can reach; that is only limited to the amount of mana used in the casting. And finally, there is a failsafe embedded in the pattern to ensure the safety of the caster and any load they may be transporting as well."

"And that failsafe consists of…?"

"A scan array that ensures the target is in an environment not critically different from the point of departure, both chemically and physically. In a nutshell, it detects the closest location to the destination that has atmospheric composition and pressure included within a certain threshold, so that the subject doesn't materialize inside of solid objects or harmful fluids, including toxic air."

"Excellent work, Twilight Sparkle." Said filly beamed. Praise from her tutor always made her feel good, no matter what the situation was. "This reduces our field of search in quite a bit, and ensures that wherever they were sent to is at least relatively safe, yes?"

"Yes, exactly." She frowned. "But you said you cannot sense them with your magic as it is, Princess, and there is no way for anypony to track the transported. How can we find them, even if our search area is smaller?"

'_And so we return to the grim aspects…'_ "Unfortunately, this is where we reach a bit of an impasse. I do have an idea of what could quell the fluctuations and allow me to try and sense them, but it will take some work. Firstly, I need you to gather your friends, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony."

Twilight was taken aback at that. "The Elements?…"

A wave of a hoof quieted her. "Let's cross that bridge when we get to it, my faithful student. For now, I kindly ask you to gather your friends. I will explain it when you are all assembled."

* * *

><p>The door led to another, darker room. It was hard to see what it actually was, with the little light there was coming from three low-power torchlights. The smell of it tortured the ponies' nostrils, its aroma of rot, dust and rusty metal inflaming their senses.<p>

"Listen, sweetie, I'm gonna put you down, alright?" Rochelle said to Scootaloo. "I need my two arms free to defend us." The filly nodded shakily, and was set down onto the wooden floor. "Stick close."

Behind her, Ellis did the same, and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom took the opportunity to get close to their friend while the Georgian collected one of the molotovs from the counter. "Guys?" the pegasus asked.

"Y'alright, Scoots?" Apple Bloom responded. "Yer not hurt, are ya?"

"Kinda…" she confessed. Had there been more light, the angry bruises around her little body would have been clearly visible. The pain of the compression had made it hard for her to take a deep breath, and woe forbid the thought of moving her wings even a millimeter. "That thing did a number on me."

"That smoker?" Ellis interrupted. "Yeah, those sons o' bitches are nasty. When they get ya, only way out is to cut the tongue or kill 'em."

"Th-them?" the pegasus asked, her voice faltering. "You mean there's more than one?"

"Lots more." He grimaced. "Ah think of all the people that turned, one outta ten are smokers."

Another bomb went off, rattling the booze bottles off the shelves. The ponies recoiled as if struck, and Ellis flinched. "Alright, that reminds me, we gotta keep movin'. C'mon."

The Crusaders reluctantly fell in pace with the human, cantering to his walk speed. Apple Bloom mustered what little courage she could and asked, "What's goin' on?"

"What, ya mean the bombs?"

The child stared blankly at his back.

Before he could continue, they stepped beyond an archway into a room full of flipped chairs and overturned tables, and hushed voices made their way into their ears.

"I'm telling you people, this is a bad idea. We're barely standing as it is, we can't just be charitable. Hell, we don't even know what those things are!"

Ellis stopped, paying attention to the conversation he unintentionally eavesdropped on. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, all of which were less than distracted by the voices, looked around the new room. The place had a stage – going by the bottles strewn on the floor and lying on the counter and the deactivated light cannons, it seemed like a spot where parties took place. Seeing it dead, dark and covered in bodies and blood made for an absurdly eerie sight, and the trio moved closer to Ellis, anxious to get away from it.

"Nicolas, do you remember Vergil?" Ellis recognized Coach's voice. "How he had no food, just a bit of fresh water, and almost no fuel? And how he still went to that plantation to save our asses? That guy got us outta that swamp, shared the lil' bit he had with us, and never asked for payback."

"Yeah, well, unless you forgot Ducatel, we had ways to return the favor."

* * *

><p>The set of telekinesis blocks lay beside the manuscript, both forgotten on the table. Their user had left them in favor of pacing back and forth, deep in a brainstorm session. '<em>Sure enough, there's no way for me to track them directly, but there must be an indirect way, a trail to follow. Every magic leaves a residual… effect…' <em>

She unconsciously turned to the mana pool. It wasn't a mere absentminded search for a distraction, she knew it – something was pulling very lightly on the edge of her mind, almost as a physical sensation… and that force came from the center of the eddy her surrogate children were so immersed in.

Even after she closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to concentrate, it took the aurora-maned mare a while to recognize it: her mana was being siphoned from her. It was an absolutely insignificant amount even to her magic at normal levels, and with the impulse she had received, actively feeling it actually took more effort than the drain itself. '_How long has this been happening for? It can't have been long, the pool doesn't have a noteworthy concentration of my mana. Unless…' _

She tried to extend her magic sense, to feel through the faint line, but no matter how hard she concentrated, no matter how hard she tried to rein her magic in, the power seeped through; if she pressed more, the sheer tension of the control would cause even more mayhem on the output, further increasing the spikes of power. There was no middle ground in it; she couldn't read even the energy within her own being. '_No use; I'll have to do this later. I just hope this link still exists by the time we are done…'_

A subtle knocking on the door broke the alicorn out of her thoughts. Opening it a notch, just enough for her to take a peek outside without being seen, she saw a mass of blue, white, yellow, pink, purple and yellow. The bearers had arrived.

However, another thing called her attention: the sun was at its zenith, much higher up in the sky than she had expected. '_Oh no…'_

Opening the door just barely enough for the average female pony to fit through, she called them in with a strict voice, "Quick, inside. No questions until all are in."

One by one, the sextet entered the library, Pinkie Pie being the first, followed by Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and finally, her student. The fashionista and the farmer were fidgeting quite noticeably, even though the rest of them, particularly Twilight, weren't too far behind in terms of agitation. They all bowed, a gesture she paid no attention to as she closed the door.

"Girls, it's very fortunate that you managed to come. Without any of you, this would be a lost cause." She noticed the obvious increase in their discomfort. "I'm sorry to usher you in such short notice, and will not waste your time. The Elements of Harmony are needed again."

Discomfort turned to shock.

"No, Nightmare Moon hasn't returned. It's not about any threats to Equestria's security, either."

"Um, 'scuse me, Yer Highness," Applejack said, "but will this take long? Y'see…"

"… there are three foals missing from the town," Rarity completed. "Mine and Applejack's sisters, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, and their friend, Scootaloo. We were in the middle of organizing a search party."

Celestia's neutral expression didn't betray the block of solid nitrogen that dropped in her belly. Twilight, her mane slightly disheveled, moved to the front of the group. "Princess, girls… I think there may be a parallel here."

"Parallel?" The blonde pony narrowed her eyes. "Twi', are ya hidin' somethin' from us?"

An awkward grin and some beads of sweat on Twilight's brow betrayed the answer.

The farmer's ears pulled back tight against her head. "Twilight Sparkle, if y'all know somethin' 'bout what happened to mah sister, ya better tell me now," she continued sternly, taking a step forwards for emphasis.

"Ahem," Celestia cleared her throat loudly, garnering the general attention. "Girls, I know the situation is dire, but please, let's maintain our calm. Twilight…" Her gaze asked the question in the minds of everypony present.

The purple unicorn kicked at nothing with a foreleg, clearly distressed. "Princess, you said you had heard a few foals during the… incident. Do you remember that red bow you tried to grab?" There was another moment of pregnant silence, during which Applejack's expression twisted into something unreadable. "Well… I've never seen anypony else use a similar bow, except for Applejack's sister, Apple Bloom."

That broke the dam. Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash rushed to Twilight, rapid-firing question after question, while Fluttershy paced around frantically in circles while muttering to herself. Pinkie Pie sat still, even quieter than before – Celestia swore she could hear gears gnashing their teeth together above her head. Another 'ahem', notably louder this time, was necessary to restore order.

"Very well, it seems we have come to a conclusion: at least three of the children we have lost are the same you are looking for. As insensitive as it may sound, this diminishes our workload. Now then, since we know both issues are one and the same, will you help me, my little ponies?" A mix of nods and positive verbal responses made her smile. "Excellent, I knew I could count on you. As such, let us tell you exactly what happened."

"So, y'all were tryin' a spellbook and the girls interrupted, and the spell did some thingamajig that it shouldn't have?"

Twilight nodded solemnly. "And that's why we need your help." She turned to Equestria's sovereign. "Princess?"

"We may have a chance of bringing them back, but as we've explained, I have a factor of instability in my magic. That is where you come in, girls: I need you to use the Elements of Harmony to purify me and get it under control again."

A collective gasp resonated from the group. "But, but Your Highness," Fluttershy asked, concerned, "aren't the Elements supposed to be used against evil? I-I mean…"

Celestia smiled. "Do not worry, child. The Elements of Harmony have their name for a reason: they bring harmony and order to the world when they are activated. That is not limited to smiting evil; they can heal and restore just as easily."

The relieved silence that followed was broken by her student. "But, Princess, after we defeated Nightmare Moon, you took the Elements to Canterlot for safekeeping. How are we supposed to use them if we don't have them?"

That was a problem Celestia had considered. It would be problematic for her to simply leave the library, let alone go to Canterlot. Even if it wasn't, it was too far to gallop, and she wasn't sure the unbalance that ailed her magic had affected her pegasus abilities. With their uncertain time constraints, she didn't want to make an attempt. The mail option wasn't viable, either: nopony would take a letter explaining the current situation seriously if it wasn't written by the alicorn herself, who had no real way to write a message – as much as she would like to deny it, magic was so much more convenient for writing than using one's mouth that, like many unicorns she had seen through the ages, her mouthwriting skills were rusty at best and illegible at worst –, and even if she could, she would not risk burning the letter to Luna as usual with her magic out of control as it was. There was Spike, but he didn't have the necessary information to direct the mail to her sister, the only other pony in Equestria with the ability to access the vault where the Elements were now kept.

Fortunately, one did not use the Elements twice without learning at least a little more than general knowledge. "Twilight, am I right to believe this library still has a copy of The Elements Of Harmony – A Reference Guide?"

She had barely finished the sentence before a purple hand holding a large tome appeared in her vision. "This one?" Spike asked.

"Why, yes indeed! Very efficient, Spike."

The compliment left the baby dragon's cheeks colored a funny shade of pink, and most of the mares present couldn't hold their amused giggles in.

Soon the moment of reprieve waned, though, and the book was opened. A gold-plated hoof ran over the index's contents, browsing to the 'appendix' section right afterwards. "Here, I found it. '… though the Elements of Harmony themselves are the most efficient and powerful way to harness the bearers' power, there is one known alternate method. Through the usage of the Sigil of Harmony – refer to page 866 for details – the power of the bearers can be unleashed in a lesser scale.'"

The sheets whipped past their eyes until the number 866 could be read at the foot of the page. Above it was an explanation on the steps necessary for the preparations, which, to general relief, were surprisingly simple. "Firstly, the sigil must be drawn on a perfectly flat surface, clockwise from Honesty to uh huh, to... mmhmm... and finally Loyalty," Celestia read out loud. She turned to her subjects. "There is very little room for flaws here; one misguided point will unbalance the matrix." A gold-clad hoof scratched at the floor. "Unfortunately, at the present time, I cannot successfully do it myself. I must ask of one of you to draw the sigil for us."

The white-coated unicorn of the group took a step forwards. "Your Highness, if you'll excuse me, it shall most likely be no problem to a fashionista worth her salt such as myself," she said in her usual slightly posh, but good-natured, tone, hiding well her previous nervousness. Less than five minutes later, Rarity was done with her self-assigned task, the large sigil drawn with almost mathematical precision.

"Excellent work, my little pony," Celestia complimented. "Now for the next part: the bearers must stand in their respective spots over the sigil…" she pointed to the spots on the edges of the pentagon on the floor as she read, "… and attempt to invoke forth the power of their respective elements. If you may…"

They all took their positions, with Twilight in the central point. As one, they closed their eyes. "Remember, girls, it's not a matter of forcing it out," the studious one reminded them. "Just think of the good things we've been through together, the obstacles we overcame, and the lessons we learned."

However, even with that advice in mind, it didn't seem to work. One by one, the Ponyville mares opened their eyes, looking amongst themselves at first with confusion, then deject. That is, all but one. Having learned, and gained, the most out of all of them in their experiences together, Twilight Sparkle didn't break her focus, and slowly, as drops trickling down the aqueduct of memory, it all came to her. The brunch with the Apples. The welcoming party to Ponyville, courtesy of Pinkie Pie. The end results of the ticket dispute. Helping Applejack out of her stubborn fit during the apple harvest. The parasprite invasion. The Zecora affair. Accepting Pinkie's sense. The amiable end of the Running Of The Leaves. Supporting Rainbow Dash in Cloudsdale, earning her the first place on the Best Young Flyer Competition. Fluttershy standing up to the dragon after she realized the way her friends had suffered in his claws. And above everything, Nightmare Moon, and the consolidation of their bond.

She felt lightweight, joyous, and oh so peaceful. If the enhancement provided by the tome felt good, this was positively divine.

The emblem she stood on began to radiate light, the inky lines of the sigil turning white as the magic flowed through them, trickling over the lines like fluid filling a crevasse. First Applejack, then Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and finally Rainbow Dash, all were engulfed by the gentle power emanating from the unicorn. Assaulted by the same jolly sensation as their friend, they closed their eyes a second time.

Suddenly, a pillar of light the exact size of the sigil hid their features, allowing Celestia to see only dark silhouettes of the bearers. Twilight opened her eyes, two empty holes pouring white light, and from the top of the phenomenon, a double helix of rainbow-coloured light beams shot up and swirled around an invisible pivot, conjoining high above in a single wave that hurtled towards the alicorn.

Relaxing all of her muscles and forcing her mind clean, the princess waited.

* * *

><p>As they reached a small stop inbetween the set of stairs Ellis was climbing up, and Sweetie Belle, at the head of the Crusaders, turned to continue, she was stopped by one of her friends. "Sweetie Belle, wait jus' a sec… Is that… yer cutie mark?"<p>

The unicorn stopped dead in her tracks, her vision snapping towards her flank, and sure enough, a wide emblem of a yellow and gold sun was emblazoned on it.

Her cutie mark. _Her_ cutie mark. The one thing that she had yearned for almost her entire foalhood, the one reason she had banded together with her two fellow blank flanks, and the cause of so many embarrassments and pains from the crusading they did in search for them.

She felt like she should be prancing with joy… but the very idea of happiness about it only existed in her head; her heart was void of it. Of course, it was a unique event, the coming of age for anypony, and something worth a very special celebration, but the present situation overshadowed it, glooming her senses so much she could only see her cutie mark as a useless decoration. "Yeah…" she muttered as she turned ahead and continued climbing up.

"Hey, what do you mean with 'yeah'? It's your cutie mark, for crying out loud!" Scootaloo interjected indignantly. Even the shock of the current situation couldn't hold her bafflement back. "That's, like, the thing you joined the Crusaders for! And now you have it; you're almost a grown up now, Sweetie Belle! Why aren't you happy?!"

"Scoots… I'm sorry. I just… I think my head is a bit full right now," she said. The chalk-white pony was comforted by the silence that indicated her friends relenting; though she knew it wasn't over, and they would ask a ton of questions later, that they respected her want for silence at the moment made her feel warm inside.

At the top of the stairs, they were greeted by the sight of Coach and Rochelle, both looking rather grumpy, in a discussion with an annoyed Nick. The light-skinned man noticed them first. "Speak of the devil," he said as he stood up from the pool table he was leaning on.

They flinched collectively against his hard tone. "Nick…" Rochelle drawled sternly. "Did you forget what we were talking about just now?"

"What, that I think this is gonna get us killed? We haven't met them even ten minutes ago, and they're already slowing us down! Ro, it's not a matter of me liking them or not, it's a matter of them being a liability we don't need!"

"Nick, do I have to remind you that, when we met, you were a shady fellow that sounded like you'd stick a knife up our backs the moment you didn't need us anymore?" Coach retorted. "You ain't one to talk much about liabilities."

Nick opened his mouth to say something, but closed it back again and just sighed, placing one hand on his forehead. "All right, fine, but I'm not gonna play babysitter."

Apple Bloom huffed in irritation, despite the silent threat in the former criminal's mannerisms. "Mistah, ah'd rather y'all know we may be young, but we ain't no babies either. We can take care of ourselves jes' dandy."

That confrontational resolve vanished at the threatening metallic **'clack'** when Nick pulled menacingly on the cocking handle of the Russian-made rifle he was carrying. "Says the one whose friend ran straight into a Smoker's tongue."

Scootaloo blushed and shivered at the same time. "I didn't know that… that thing was out there, alright?" she retored indignantly.

Apple Bloom, however, had latched onto another part of the phrase. "What is a 'smoker' anyway?"

The con man didn't answer, moving carefully to a door on the other side of the room, rifle raised and ready. The yellow filly turned her eyes to the woman of the group, who sighed. "Never mind Nick, he's just a bit untreatable at first. He can be nice… sometimes. Mostly when he's not hungry or sleepy."

It was obvious that the pony didn't fully buy the story. "If ya say so... But what's a 'smoker'?"

"Tall, lanky, got more tongues than a starfish got arms," came the response from behind her, with a Southern accent. "Keeps waitin' somewhere high up, like a roof or somethin', an' when someone pass, they get snared just like a calf on a rodeo." Ellis lifted his shirt up to his chest, showing a number of faint purple marks among the various bruises and small lacerations on his skin, like he had been wrapped by rope that was tied far too tight against his torso. "See?"

"Ugh, that looks painful," Sweetie Belle commented, raising one foreleg in a reflex of self-preservation. Apple Bloom shared her opinion, if the surprised grimace she had on was any indication. The pegasus of the trio just shivered, looking away at her own body. Under the orange strands of her coat, the marks were more or less the same as his, she could tell that much.

"Sure is. And y'all better hope ya have a knife or somethin' to cut the tongue, 'cause if ya don't, there ain't no way in Hell y'all gonna get loose if someone don't go an' help yer ass."

"Ellis, sweetie, can't this wait?" Rochelle interrupted him. "We really gotta keep a move on."

"You got it, Ro."

With that, he set his clothes back down, and the five left the hall, moving towards the door Nick had gone through. As they found out, it led to a small catwalk taking to a small office. Beyond the handrail lay the back area of the bar, comprised of a small storage place with the shutters open.

Inside the small office to the right, the man in the dirty white suit scrounging through the contents of a small crate looked back at the entourage and grunted. "Thirty-two, three-five-seven, thirty-oh-six... Guy bought out a gun shop, left it all behind, but forgot to get calibers actually worth a crap." He tossed a box of .22 Long Rifle rounds against the wall. "Damn it!"

"Figures…" Coach sighed. "We're really only gonna get the bores we need at those evac outposts, aren't we?"

"Guys, there's no ladder down," Rochelle observed from the suspended junction. "We're gonna have to take the express route."

"Is it too high?"

"Not exactly, but there's a soda machine we can climb down to. Beats leaping all the way down."

"Sounds good to me. C'mon, everyone, we're leaving."

Rochelle went first, carefully propping her feet down on the top of the machine, praying to whatever entity was out there for the roof not to sink under her feet. Once she was sure it was stable enough, she gestured for the fillies to come, and set them down one by one, whereas they jumped to the floor below. The process was somewhat laborious, but in the end, all seven made it to the bottom without injury. An open shutter led to a back alley completely devoid of life or useful objects.

Nick continued ahead around a corner, leading the group into the entrance of an apartment building offering a better way ahead than having to jump over the fence at the end of the alleyway. "God, I hate blocked paths," the fillies could hear him grumble.

"It's so quiet here…" Scootaloo mused as they reached a door, with Nick leaned against the wall right beside it.

"Hope it stays that way," Rochelle said, keeping her eyes glued to the way they had come through.

With a quick exchange of gestures, the con man let his elder take point - the extremely wide choke on his shotgun might not have much ground for range, but the cone of buckshot showed itself deadly against clusters of former humans. Coach opened the door and, two spent shells later, motioned for the others to come in. As they did, the humans turned on their torches, while Sweetie Belle called upon the magic within her, making her horn light up and providing the Crusaders with a way to watch their own steps. The silence was oppressive, overwhelming, filling the heads of all with ominous uncertainty.

A supersonic boom startled them out of their minds, and the following explosion, strong enough to rattle the foundations of the structure they were in the process of exploring, sent them all rushing for shelter. Coach and Ellis ran on upstairs, while Nick and Rochelle huddled in a corner on the ground floor, the quadruped children trembling next to their legs. Once the ground was still again, they breathed a sigh of relief. "That was a close one," Ellis sighed, mostly to himself, though he nonetheless received a few assertive responses in return.

Scootaloo tried to control her breath, even as her psych wished to break down into a nervous mess. Not an hour prior, she was prancing about Ponyville with her two best friends, thinking of ways to earn their so-craved cutie marks, with no worries in her head except for taking care of her scooter and keeping her grades high enough. Then, with a burst of light, they were in a strange place full of monsters and explosions – it wasn't nearly as cool as she would have dreamed, to boot –, depending on four strange creatures that looked like nothing she had ever seen, one of which had no reservations in showing how much he didn't like them. To make it worse, Sweetie Belle had a cutie mark, but didn't even pay any attention to it. '_When did the world turn upside down?'_

As Sweetie Belle bounded up to the third floor and through another broken wall – '_Doesn't anypony know what doors are around here?'_ – she noticed the three older humans quietly discussing something in the middle of the bedroom they were in. An open door on the opposite side gave leeway to a sound she hadn't heard before, a deep, heavy snarling. "Aw, hogwash, man…" Ellis cursed, looking outside.

"Y'all eat hogwash?" Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head to the side.

At that exact moment, a very quiet grumble filled the room, and Ellis put a hand on his stomach, but he didn't answer.

Quietly, the ponies moved to see whatever it was that held the young man's attention so much. What they saw would certainly not get out of their heads easily: a positively enormous creature, vaguely similar to the Crusaders' companions, but very different at the same time – between its much stockier build, overly muscled arms and hunched over posture, it looked more like a shaved gorilla than anything else – paced around the courtyard below. It stomped around and scratched at the floor, leaning forwards at every louder growl it uttered, seemingly angry at the world and some more. They all ran back inside as the beast turned their way. "What's… what is that thing?" Sweetie Belle whimpered pitifully from behind Coach's leg.

Coach sighed. "Should've known shit was going way too smoothly…"

"So, how do we do this?" Rochelle asked. She moved to the doorframe for a quick peek, standing with her back to the wall. "All of these buildings around us are pure wood, so fire's not exactly an option. Do we do it the usual way?"

Once again, the – very relative – peace was interrupted by a sonic boom and an explosion not too far off. The Tank let out an ear-splitting roar as it beat on its chest, bounding out of a corner and out of sight, with the ground literally shaking under its limbs as it left. The fillies stepped further back at the sheer volume of its voice, their ears pulled back.

"Well," Rochelle, who had been watching the turn of events, deadpanned, "that was convenient…" She stepped outside, both head and rifle on a swivel. "We're clear, guys."

One by one, the posse left the dilapidated bedroom. Coach veered to the right, following the walkway to a small drop onto a rooftop, next to which stood a scaffold. "Look over there! Safe house ahead!" he hollered to the others, pointing to a drawing on another building. "Just gotta cross that gap!"

A show of dull color caught Scootaloo's eye. It belonged to the head of a jester, affixed to an unfinished parade car. The planks on it were on level with the gap she'd been made aware of, just sufficient for a makeshift bridge. "Can't we use that?"

The small-ish voice grated on Nick's nerves, but curiosity had him looking down at the object the pony was indicating anyway. Sure enough, the cart was connected to a tractor – one that seemed to be in working condition. "Looks like it. We just gotta move that tractor."

Ellis took the initiative to move down and inspect the draft vehicle as soon as he was sure the others were covering him. It was a little battered after a few days of exposure, but the fuel level was above the red and the engine seemed to be in good condition. "Looks like it's gonna work!" he announced. His hand floated over the tractor's startup key. "Can ah?"

"Sho sho, boy!"

"I got your back!"

"Whenever you're ready."

Satisfied by the three verbal nods, the mechanic turned the key and engaged the first gear. The float started moving as expected. '_Lookin' good, lookin' good...'_

The young southerner immediately rescinded that line when the float began spouting out a cheery jazz tune… at over a hundred decibels. "SHIT, THIS DAMN THING HAS A SOUND SYSTEM?!"

The end of his outcry was almost overshadowed by an almost deafening roar. The Tank had returned to its turf, and it fully intended to find out who was messing around in it.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Remember, season 1. That means no complete railroads.<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Coming to terms**

* * *

><p>Chaos. That was the only word they could use to describe what ensued.<p>

Something big and heavy came down on Apple Bloom right after the explosion, and on top of the shrieks of protest from her ribs and the air leaving her lungs by force, she felt a sickening pop on her shoulder. The weight lifted just as fast as it came, but its presence had already taken its toll. The injured filly, out of breath to so much as squeak in the intense pain she felt, could only watch as a hideously asymmetric mutant staggered after hitting the wall far at the back of the alley.

Ellis knew how lucky he was to have been merely clipped at the elbow by the rushing charger's attack, a contact that ended up in an ugly but ultimately ignorable scraped patch of skin on his forearm. On reflex born out of pure and simple necessity, he grabbed his rifle off the ground and whirled around, poised to shoot the offending former human clad in a tattered CEDA hazmat suit, who now jogged back their way with a humongous arm raised to strike. Its stance dropped with an inarticulate groan, along with its entire body, when three 7.62 NATO ball rounds sailed into its comparatively fragile torso.

Coach and Rochelle weren't as lucky. The chubby teacher was clocked on the side, almost as hard as Nick, and sent reeling to meet the brick wall back first. As he stumbled drunkenly forwards, his shotgun escaped his fingers. The reporter, for her part, received an enlarged knuckle to her injured ribs, dropping her almost instantly. The pain that was already there flared up over the numbing effects of the adrenaline, something her scream, muffled to their ringing ears as it may have been, made rather obvious.

The septet's youngest human didn't know who to tend to first. If he went for Coach, he might have his help with the others, but Nick had passed out and Ro had already been smacked once; they might need attention sooner. He knew he had to choose, and soon.

Instead of fretting over the decision and getting nowhere, Ellis took a deep breath and made his move, hoping it was the best choice.

For Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, the only two that get away intact, everything happened too fast to account for anything. They opened their eyes just in time to see Ellis kill the charger, the rest of their group scattered like ragdolls… including a close friend. "**Apple Bloom!**" they shouted in unison, blazing over to her side.

The filly was stuck between gasping and crying as she lay on her side, nursing an extended foreleg. Scootaloo went to nuzzle her. "Apple Bloom, what happened?" When she received no direct answer, she started to really worry. "Oh no, this is bad!"

"What do we do?!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

"God damn it…" they heard from above. One look up revealed Coach slouched over them. The man proceeded to bend down in a slow, laborious effort, and picked up the hurt filly, passing his palms under her and hoisting her up, cradling the pony much like a newborn. Once she was snug against his chest, he moved his gaze to the other two. "You girls okay?"

Both nodded, able to hear clearly by now.

"Thank the Lord for small miracles," he sighed. "Alright, follow me. We can't stop now."

"Is she gonna be okay?" Scootaloo asked uncharacteristically timidly, her eyes fixed on Apple Bloom's semiconscious form. She'd been hurt by these things already; she knew where her friend was coming from.

Coach took a deep breath, but didn't answer. She could only hope his grimace was from his own pain.

The group dynamics had changed completely. Now a limping Rochelle was on the lead, carrying Nick's AK, followed by Ellis, who slowly walked forwards, heavily burdened by the unconscious man he held in a fireman's carry. Following him were the two standing Crusaders and finally Coach, who had carefully maneuvered Apple Bloom's small shape to rest on his left arm so he could pull the M9 pistol off his hip holster with his right hand. With two men out of the fight and one unable to reload his gun if it ran empty, it was a weak formation, and they all knew it, even the fillies.

"Knights of Columbus, this is bullshit… This is not happening…" Rochelle mumbled to herself as she went.

"C'mon, girl, keep it together," Coach answered as reassuringly as he could. "We gon' make it to that safe house, and we'll get right."

She felt tempted to whirl back and tell him he wasn't the one who had taken two smacks from two brick shithouses on the exact same spot of his body, but refrained from doing it. She knew that, while she was busy venting her own aches away, he was doing one of their most crucial jobs – keeping the mood positive. Instead, she kept her eyes on the surroundings, extra wary for any opportunists as she led the team out the alleyway and around the circle of slaughter on the grassy patch the pipe bomb had landed.

It took them almost three minutes to cross the interdicted stretch of pavement towards an overturned semi-trailer near the original parking lot for the stores that once existed in front of the alley - a distance of less than fifty meters that would have been covered in forty seconds by a healthy adult -, but when they did and the lead's head checked to the right, she felt the unbelievable sensation of her lips curling upwards. "Guys, safe house! C'mon!"

"Where?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously from between the woman's legs. Then she saw it too: past a fallen concrete divider, at the foot of the ramp's pillar, stood the sturdiest door she'd ever seen. "You mean that one?"

"Now that's… a sight for sore eyes!" Ellis huffed, adjusting his arm around Nick's leg.

"I guess that's a yes," the filly deadpanned.

Though at times it felt like the doorway was a mile away and still sprinting off towards the horizon, eventually all of the standing survivors made it past the makeshift cordon and into the maintenance room turned safe haven. Once Coach was past the entrance, Rochelle slammed the door shut and shoved the ever-present metal bar into the attached hooks. Now the place was firmly secured against anything without the mental faculties needed to figure out the simple but effective lock. They could consider themselves safe for a while.

The woman finally lowered her gun to cradle her injured flank, and Ellis gently set Nick down on a pile of rags on the floor. "Man," Coach muttered as he placed his own charge on a table at a corner near a fixed ladder, "they say that every fight you walk away from is a win…"

* * *

><p>Flying in this world was surprisingly hard. The air didn't obey the aerodynamics she was used to, forcing her to put in a great extra effort to remain aloft, let alone move forwards, and that was when the surprisingly powerful gusts blowing around didn't send her off course. Not even three minutes in the air, and she was already out of breath, her muscles aching more and more with the inevitable lactic acid buildup.<p>

Celestia knew better than to ignore the alarm her body was blaring and risk falling from the air due to overexertion, and when the first suitable landing spot came into view, she went down and planted her hooves on the floor. She did not expect her legs to falter under her, though, and the spent mare came down on the concrete with a dull 'thud'.

Though her body was tired, Celestia's mind was buzzing, having gathered quite a bit of information during her short flight. Her previous encounter with the wounded one down in the tunnels convinced her that she was dealing with a world at least partially populated by an intelligent species of primates, one that, as far as she could see, wasn't much different from her ponies. That she had emerged in a full-blown city, seemingly the size of Manehattan itself only with somewhat shorter buildings, attested to that.

However, that was where the similarities ended, and where the reasoning behind the warning started to make sense.

The city was devastated. Nearly all visible buildings and houses were badly damaged, on fire, peppered with wide craters, long fissures or missing chunks, some almost to the point of collapse or even past it. The bitter stench of smoke hung thick, even far from the more ravaged spots. The crushing majority of the roads were blocked off with fences, vehicles and whatnot, turning the whole city into a gigantic improvised maze. The amount of trash littered around, adding up to the rubble strewn literally everywhere, gave off the impression that the area was in disrepair even before the buildings started getting destroyed.

Those aspects were not what immediately caught her eye, though: what really did was the populace. The ones wandering the streets were but a shadow of what she figured would be their former selves, all of them sickly-looking – and given that several were vomiting right out in the open, it wasn't a mere appearance –, some sitting still or slowly milling about, unanimously oblivious to the havoc all around them. Some, she noticed, started fighting against one another for no apparent reason; one simply moved to the other and began hitting it until it fought back. A select few moved with a smidge more conviction to their step, but their even more grossly deformed bodies and feral behavior erased any thoughts of them being healthier than their peers. Some of them were on the ground, lying still, but she couldn't tell why, mostly because a good deal of those got back up to amble or brawl.

A grim picture painted itself in her mind's eye. '_This place seems to have been touched by pestilence incarnate…'_ The mere thought of vileness on this level being witnessed by her little ponies, especially the young ones lost here, pained the mare even more than the old thought of Nightmare Moon being an irreversible transformation of Luna's. To her relief, that had turned out to be a bogus theory. '_Unlike this… living nightmare,'_ she added with a grimace.

As she looked up to the firmament in an attempt to soothe her distress, something on the horizon caught her eye: a cluster of black specks, far away but approaching very quickly. Celestia didn't know what to expect from something flying at that speed in a location as brutally dilapidated as this one, so she decided to play it safe; scampering to her feet, she galloped towards a door on the opposite end of the rooftop. It didn't budge when she pushed against it; instead, the doorknob rattled. She hurriedly pushed the handle down with a hoof, and the door gladly swung open.

The princess had barely cantered halfway inside when a shockwave from behind sent her to the floor on her side, her ears ringing from an ear-splitting blast. Another sound just as loud followed, and a dusty bit of ceiling plaster fell on her head.

* * *

><p>"Hey there, can ya hear me? I need y'all to open your eyes, alright?"<p>

Still sniffling, Apple Bloom complied. Her pained gaze added up to her trembling frame and hitched breathing, twisting Coach's heart even further than it already was. At the same time that he worried he might aggravate the little thing's condition, compassion practically forced him to do at least something to help her. '_She's just a kid, man.'_

"How is she?" the unicorn asked, prodding his leg with a small hoof. "Is she gonna be okay?"

He craned his gaze down at her and her winged friend, both of whom were all but nipping at his pants legs. "Look, kids, I gotta run a check-up on her, but I can't do it with y'all talkin' and distractin' me." One look around spotted a viable diversion messing with a bottle of painkillers. "Look over there: Rochelle's sitting right there, all alone. Why don't you go make her some company while your friend and I ain't around?"

Reluctantly, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded and left the large man in favor of the survivor they'd been pointed to. "Hi, miss Rochelle," the unicorn filly said quietly.

Rochelle took a deep swig of lukewarm water from a dusty plastic bottle. "Hi there," she replied as she screwed the cap back on and set the bottle down, her voice hoarse and a little strained.

"We were told to stay here with you," Scootaloo added awkwardly, "while mister Coach treats Apple Bloom."

The woman's eyes gaze set upon the frame of the bulky health teacher speaking to the filly on the table in hushed, comforting whispers. "She's in good hands," she smiled, looking back down. "Anyway, it looks like I'm in a bit of a disadvantage name-wise. What are you called, sweeties?"

"Hey, I'm not 'sweetie'! I'm Scootaloo!" the pegasus protested, jabbing a hoof at her friend. "She is Sweetie!"

"I think that was a figure of speech, Scootaloo," the white pony explained. Her head moved to face the human. "My name's actually Sweetie Belle."

The pills Rochelle had taken with the water started to work their magic, and added to how these two behaved exactly like human children, despite everything, the mildly sedated reporter felt a long-absent sense of normalcy. "Well then, hello, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle," she said with a gentle smile. "Who's your friend?"

Right then, there was a sickening pop and a muffled scream from Coach's direction. "APPLE BLOOM!" the two ponies shouted in unison, abandoning Rochelle's side to hurry to the impromptu operating table, Scootaloo following close behind Sweetie Belle with a slight limp. However, instead of hearing more screams and the evil laughter of a tormenting jerk, when they got close, their ears caught quiet whimpering and soothing whispers.

"Shh, shh, there, worst is done, kid..." Coach said quietly, scratching behind his patent's ear with one hand, keeping the other firmly in place over the shoulder he had just set in place. He stole a quick glance at the joint, and couldn't help but think to himself, _'Please tell me I did this right and didn't screw her up more...'_

"The hell was that, man?" a southern voice asked. Ellis had stopped his treatment of Nick in favor of staring, perplexed, at his other male companion.

"She had a dislocated shoulder," was the answer.

"Ow," Ellis cringed in sympathy, turning back to his own patient. "Reminds me of when Keith had the idea of base jumpin' off the railroad bridge. He was meanin' to use one of those big-ass weather balloons for a parachute, but when we were fillin' it, it popped, so he had to cut a square off it an' tie the tips with some braided string. An' it was goin' real smooth, too, least until–"

"Nngh..."

"Nick!" the accented boy exclaimed in surprised joy. "Yer awake!"

The man in question waved a hand blindly, raising the other to cradle his head. "Stop screaming, Ellis! Damn it..." He grunted once, working his fingers over his temple. "What the hell was that back there?"

"That's your sense of acoustics coming to bite us in the ass," Rochelle answered, already crouched over him.

"Should've known..." The man in white set the free hand on the ground and tried to push himself up, but quickly abandoned that idea. "Whoa, shit, dizzy spell... Damn does my head hurt."

"Nuh-uh, you stay right where yer at," Ellis admonished, holding him down by the shoulder.

"Okay, _mom_." Nick rolled his eyes at a slight angle, enough to show his annoyance without worsening his migraine. "What shit fell on my plate?"

"Stampedin' charger," Coach said simply. The two conscious fillies turned back to him, having forgotten about him and Apple Bloom in the distraction of Nick's awakening, and saw him biting down on a length of silvery tape and taking it down to the table, likely towards their fellow Crusader. "Alright, that should do it," he said after giving the loose end of the tape a few taps to glue it in place. "How you holdin' up, shorty?"

"… bit better now," answered a tremulous voice. "Thanks, mistah."

The man smiled warmly. "That ain't nuthin'. Now I'm gonna need you to stand: think ya can do it?"

Seconds passed before a mussed up mop of red hair poked out from the edge of the table, followed by two amber eyes, and finally the rest of Apple Bloom's head. She wore a grimace that showed the aches wracking her little body, but it faded to a happy grin when she looked down and saw her closest friends up and running much better than she herself was. "Hey girls!"

Seeing Scootaloo's and Sweetie Belle's elated faces at her appearance prompted the junior farmer to go and join them, but she was stopped by a hand grabbing her from below just as she was preparing to leap off the table. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you crazy?!" admonished Coach. "I just fixed y'all up, kid, the least you can do is not waste my work!"

Caught red-handed, the filly grinned sheepishly.

Nick snorted from where he was, but said nothing else about the matter. Instead, he turned to Ellis. "How long was I out?"

"Not too long, five minutes at most," Rochelle answered, moving to shove the painkillers back inside the medical pack. She reconsidered. "Want some?"

"I'll pass," he grunted. "I've felt worse after booze benders." He hadn't, really, but he just knew that any sort of anesthesic would drop him faster than a puppet with cut strings. He idly eyed Coach setting a now partially-silver Apple Bloom to the floor, and muttered a few quiet words to himself, two of which sounded a lot like 'carousel decorations'.

"Hey!" Scootaloo exclaimed, offended by what she heard. "What do you have against us anyway, dude?"

Nick fixed her an icy glare. "You three are trouble, that's what I have against you." He brought a hand up and extended one finger. "For one, you yourself brought zombie city on our tails when you ran off screaming like a loon. Two," his middle finger went up, "you're moochers. I don't care what you are, you're gonna jeopardize our safety, and unless you things eat grass, our food supplies too."

Had the mention of eating grass been at any other time, the Crusaders would have made fake gagging motions to show their disgust: the word 'grass' was only one letter apart from 'gross' for a reason. But the way that was said, and by whom it was said, gave them pause.

"Oh, right, they go after noise, right?" Sweetie Belle said timidly.

"Wait, whaddya mean 'gepardizing yer food'?" Apple Bloom piped in. "Stop usin' those complicated words to make us feel dumb!"

"Jeopardizing means compromising, doing bad things to something." All eyes turned to Sweetie Belle, who shrank slightly. "What? Rarity loves that word!"

Meanwhile, Scootaloo returned to fuming in guilt. The others hadn't zipped away screaming, which meant the blame was entirely on her withers. "Sorry for giving you guys in hot water..."

"It's okay, shorty, you didn't know any better," Coach said placidly. He made it a point to stare at Nick as he said that. "'sides, they were gonna come for us sooner or later. You just got it started when we were in a good position where nobody would get hurt bad." He looked down at the filly. "Don't y'all feel guilty, got that?"

She gave a feeble nod, smiling faintly. "Okay then." Then she blinked. "But there's one thing bugging me... Why are your zombies so fast? Aren't they supposed to be all slow and rotten and moany?"

The humans eyed each other. "They're... not that kind of zombie," Rochelle explained. "They're all alive, in a weird way."

"Good thing, too, we had to run through a graveyard right before we met you girls," Ellis chirped in. "Imagine if they were _real_ zombies... it'd be like death for sure."

"I've never heard of living zombies..." Sweetie Belle remarked, confused. "Don't they have to be undead to be zombies?"

"Beats me," Nick said with finality, carefully standing back up, breathing deep to ignore the aches. "Just like how long we have before the turbine jockeys burn the bridge down, and I'm not betting on anything above five minutes." The way he loomed over the Crusaders made them take an unconscious step back with folded ears.

"What exactly are you implying, Nick?" Rochelle, who had stood up herself, asked knowingly. "Are you gonna say we have to pack light to get there before the deadline?"

The man snorted. "We've had that discussion before and you two made your point, we're not getting rid of anyone or anything today." He looked back down. "But you three are gonna pay us back."

"But we don't have bits," Sweetie Belle pointed out. "We left our coin pouches at home, we weren't planning to have to pay for things..."

As soon as she mentioned coin pouches, Nick realized they were talking about money. For the sake of his own string-thin patience, he decided to ignore the other details. "Like we have anywhere to spend cash on. I meant you're pulling your own weight. For one, your eyes are huge and your ears are even bigger. You're gonna spot for us."

"Oh," the filly nodded. "We can do that, right guys?"

Her friends both nodded. "Sure we can!" Apple Bloom said happily.

"What do we have to look out for?" asked Scootaloo. She was eager to make up to them for saving her, it was the least she could do.

"Well, Nick, color me surprised," Coach grinned. "You're being reasonable for once!"

"Yeah, yeah, 'see the silver lining' and all that crap," the man responded, brushing off the teasing. "Wait, where did Ellis go?"

A 'clunk-clunk' noise came from above, and Scootaloo was the first to put herself to work as assigned. "There's something up there."

"HEY GUYS!" the missing survivor called from above, climbing down the ladder on the wall. "Ah went for a look, an' we can get on street level from a door up there. Ain't no zombies around that Ah could see, so we're good."

The supersonic boom of the fighter jets came up seconds after Ellis had finished. "Well shit, souds like a 'hurry up' to me," Rochelle observed, and no one disagreed. "Everyone ready? Then let's go, we've got an evac to catch."

* * *

><p>Calling it a door would be quite an understatement – what stood before Celestia was a behemoth of thick metal plates welded together, attached to the wall by hinges so huge, they did not obey any architectural proportions she knew of. Right in its middle, a large window had been left open, criss-crossed by steel bars spaced far enough apart that she could slide her foreleg through without problems.<p>

Though unusual in its properties, it had a purpose that did not escape her eye. '_The entrance to a safe haven.'_

Beyond the room she occupied – a stairway landing cut off from the lower levels by various pieces of heavy furniture clogging the passage –, a reasonable number of shamblers, as Celestia had decided to call the strangely irrational primates, lazed about. The smaller distance between the alicorn and them allowed her to notice details she hadn't been able to before. For one, they had a particularly unpleasant smell, a mixture of vomit, old sweat and… She covered her nose. '_Hurricane's helmet, is this refuse?'_

Any thoughts on how any sapient creature could forgo as basic a self-preservation instinct as personal hygiene were immediately lost on the alicorn as some passed under a still-working lamp further back, and her observation could actually be made with her eyes. Alongside the mottled, dusty skin that indicated constant exposure to the elements, all of them had thick streaks of blood originating from their mouths and running down their chins – '_A widespread case of hematemesis?'_ –, and the vast majority sported a good amount of dark bruises, open cuts, jagged scratches and bite marks, among other injuries, in various places of their bodies. One of them, seemingly a male, was missing an arm – and if the irregular aspect of the remaining flesh and bone were any indication, it had been torn off with extreme force. She quickly turned away, trying desperately not to retch.

Another explosion rocked the immediate surroundings, causing the building tremble under Celestia's hooves and the lamps to flicker menacingly. To her surprise, the seemingly absentminded shamblers all ran out of the corridor and its surroundings, grunting and yelling incoherently. A few seconds later, a sharp crack, which the princess knew by instinct would be eardrum-tearing were she not indoors, filled the air. '_Wait, I recognize this noise… A sonic boom?!'_ There was in fact something, whether a contraption or a creature, that could surpass the speed of sound, right there in the world she was in. And Celestia was not exactly sure she wanted to meet whatever it was.

Another thought ran through her head: 'know your foe'. If just to know what to avoid, she had to know what it was.

Carefully, she ascended the two flights of stairs, her bare hooves barely making a sound on the dusty granite floor, and peered out the door to the roof. She didn't like what she saw. The farthest side of the building's top had been obliterated; in its place there was only a crater, its edges smoldering both from whatever explosive had destroyed the area and the wooden beams making up the building's structure. Slowly, Celestia re-entered the stairwell and closed the door with a quiet 'click'. '_I will definitely have to be careful,'_ she thought to herself.

A few seconds later, she was once again in her safe haven, with her eyes closed in thought. '_I need a plan of action.'_ Just running out the door as she was at the moment was most likely a move that would get her roasted, if the behavior of the shamblers, the general state of the city and the explosions were any indication. Setting her body down on a part of the floor that was covered in cardboard sheets and a bedsheet – she had to admit it made for a surprisingly comfortable bedding –, she concentrated on organizing her ideas.

The first priority was, naturally, survival – she wasn't going to accomplish anything if she was dead.

Secondly, she had to find the fillies. She banished the grim thought of their deaths out of her head; there had to be hope. The syphon line was her main motivation, as they were the only thing that could plausibly be attached to the other end... and dead ponies don't consume or transmit magic; even passive users like earth ponies or pegasi had their active circulation and application. She ignored the fact that it was a gamble, telling herself that it was as good a gamble as any, and it paid to be optimistic.

And thirdly, she had to secure them all a way back to Equestria. However she was going to manage that was a bridge she would cross when she got there.

Next, she listed her available resources. Her body, flight capabilities aside, seemed normal. Her magic, from what she had tried, was acting inefficient and warped to the point of being dangerous to use. However, she could still feel the tug, so maybe magic could work if the spell was self-cast…

She focused on herself, trying to feel her own magical matrix. Much as she had hoped, her perception spread from the pith of her horn to her head, and down her neck and to her body. To her intrigue, the syphon effect was a little stronger. It still wasn't nearly enough for her to think of it as a cause of concern, which she was glad for, and it gave her a waypoint to follow. She got up on her hooves, filing it all in her mental archives.

The room, though small, was surprisingly packed with all sorts of items, some unpleasant like the foul-smelling clothes left at one corner, others intriguing like the hollow metal sticks filled with brass-colored tubes like the one she had tried her magic on before, though these had a tip made of a similar material on them; a tin can on a battered wooden table held a significant amount of these spikes of sorts, of varying shapes and sizes. Celestia decided to leave them be.

Another finding was a shaft made of polished wood and dark metal, apparently made of a number of moving parts. One of its sides had a sort of alphanumerical code that the princess failed to comprehend.

Searching a cardboard box yielded a much more recognizable item, a blue satchel with a red cross on it. '_A first aid kit!'_ It quickly found its way around Celestia's neck, hanging by a small strap. '_Not the most comfortable fit, but I think it would be too much to ask for saddlebags…'_ Further rummaging only produced a flashlight much too large and clunky to carry without a proper bag, which she left alone. The opened cans and cartons in a pile at the farthest corner offered nothing useful enough to take, as did the drawers of the desk on the barricade.

Taking a deep breath, the alicorn steeled her nerves and put her hoof under the metal bar holding the door closed, ready to lift it off the improvised lock. Lingering wouldn't solve any of her problems, and she knew it.

* * *

><p>Much to Nick's pleasant surprise, their tagalongs <em>could<em> climb ladders, with the obvious exception of Apple Bloom, whom Coach volunteered to carry after a small dose of Rochelle's ibuprofen.

The outside of the safe rom's upper level was dominated by huge concrete dividers on the left side. A blue semi had crashed hard enough against one of the dividers to move it a fair distance, but didn't knock it down. Fences on the right had the usual 'aggravate the military and you're dead' warnings tied on them.

Applebloom surveyed the scenery from above on Coach's back, paying grim attention to the small fly-ridden pile of corpses in front of what remained of the semi. A small crackle turned her ear to the right, and her face followed suit.

"_Rescue 7, this is Papa Gator, over._"

"_This is Rescue 7, over._"

Everyone's attention, not just hers, were drawn to a body laying against the fence in front of a power box, a walkie-talkie in his hand. "Hey, these are soldiers!" Nick exclaimed, picking the radio up. "Uuuum, hello? Papa Gator, Rescue 7, anyone there?"

"_Rescue 7!_" said the alarmed voice of Papa Gator. "That's coming from the bridge! Bridge, who is this?"

Nick was quick to respond. "My name's Nick. There's seven of us on the..." he checked the morning sun's rays beaming from the opposite side of the river, "... on the west end of the bridge."

"_Copy that, Nick. Are all of you immune?_"

"Papa Gator, we are NOT infected!" he made a point to emphasize. They'd not come this far to die now just because some bastards with stripes decided that they were the same as the mealy-mouthed bastards that they were sick of fighting.

The next two words chilled his soul. "_Negative, Nick. ARE YOU IMMUNE?_" A second later, Papa Gator explained further, "Have you encountered the infected?"

Rochelle mouthed 'understatement of the year', and Coach chuckled. The Crusaders stared at them, then at each other, feeling mildly lost.

"Yeah, you could say that," Nick affirmed.

About five seconds passed before Papa Gator came back on. When he did, the message wasn't intended for them. "_Rescue 7, are you equipped for carriers? Over._"

"_Affirmative, Papa Gator, over,_" Rescue 7 said without a hint of trepidation. Nick was relieved; at least they weren't going to be seen as target practice to be lined up against a wall or locked on by fighter jet sighting systems right away.

"_Roger, Rescue 7. Nick, listen closely: Rescue 7 is the evac on the east end, at the helipad on the naval base. He's the last one, we've pulled out of that sector. You've got ten minutes to get to him. Are you near the west checkpoint?_"

"You mean the fenced passage next to where the bridge rises, with all the signs? Yeah, we're there."

"_Check for a power box on one of the bridge's pillars. It should have a red light. Turn that on, and the bridge will lower._"

Scootaloo saw Rochelle, who was already close to said box, turn a large red switch on the top. The red LED turned green, and with a mighty hydraulic roar, the bridge started its descent. The woman gave a thumbs up to Nick.

"We've got it, it's coming down."

"_Remember, guys, ten minutes,_" warned the more laid-back voice of Rescue 7. "_I'll be warming the rotors while you don't get here, but if you don't get to the chopper in ten minutes, you're on your own._"

"We've got that, we'll be there," Nick answered.

"_There are no infected on the bridge as far as the buzzards can tell, so you're lucky,_" said Papa Gator. "_God be with you. Over and out._"

"You heard the men, let's get across this and we're home free!" Coach yelled.

"Oh shit yeah! Shit! YEAH!" At least Ellis was motivated.

"Get ready to run!" Rochelle warned. "This whole bridge is almost half a mile long, we're gonna have to book it to get there on time!"

The span reached its lower level with a powerful rattle, and the gap covers extended. As soon as they hit the ground, the humans darted away startlingly fast, and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran after them, giving all they had in their little legs to try and catch up.

* * *

><p>The beige walls dully reflected the light of her horn as she slowly trod through the empty hallway. The flickering lights of the fluorescent lamps above, pulsing between weak and imperceptible, made for an ominous atmosphere, pregnant with anticipation.<p>

_'Or maybe that's merely the knots in my stomach,'_ Celestia mused idly. She passed yet another bend in the hallway, and was rewarded with a larger door than the usual wooden ones that led to offices and rooms she didn't bother to look into after a frustratingly fruitless round of scouring for useful objects. The image of an extinguisher above the lever gave her an idea of what to expect, and the thickness of the door as it swung open confirmed it: it was a fire door, covering a stairway.

Carefully, Celestia climbed down the dangerously steep staircase, until an unpleasant sight caught her eye: the ceiling of the fourth floor had caved in, leaving several large pieces of wood and mortar blocking her path. _'It cannot ever be easy, can it?'_

She sighed, and headed to the fire door next to the collapsed passage. It offered surprisingly heavy resistance, and the princess had to resort to standing on her hind legs and use her forelegs and shoulder to muscle it open, trying to resist the foul smell that seeped through the gap between it and the frame without holding her breath. As the movable barrier very slowly budged under the alicorn's force, a grating sound of something being dragged coming from behind it, it became clear to her why it was so hard to open: someone had blocked the door with a weighty metal desk, which slid noisily out of the way with her final heave.

Finally, there was enough room for Celestia to squeeze through, and she entered the new room. It was much different from what she had expected; unlike the small, cramped hallways with entrances to offices the mare was used to from her experiences on the floors above, this was a very large room, about half the size of Canterlot Castle's main hall, if her mental measurements were correct. She stepped in, carefully checking the barely lit surroundings. The chamber hadn't escaped whatever had happened to the city untouched, as the general disarray and malfunctioning lighting showed, but it was empty as far as the white-coated equine's light spell could reach and her ears could pick up over the faint sound of a ventilation fan somewhere nearby.

The promise of relative safety did not convince Celestia to dawdle, and she quickly contoured the room. Here and there the occasional corpse caught her eye, and she noted with morbid interest that the vast majority sported at least one round perforation in their torso. Some of them had them in their heads, though, and she could spare no more than a cursory glance at the bloody messes signaling the exit wounds of whatever had pierced them without feeling even sicker than the odor of the room already made her. The lower floor held little promise of an exit; the only clear way the royal pony could see was a metal staircase near her. Careful so her hooves didn't clash too loudly against the metal, Celestia climbed. _'I hope I'm not walking in circles here.'_

As the final steps were left behind, a moderate-sized landing came to view. It was made as if to overlook the lower collective office, however it puzzled Celestia that the large table near the fencing around the edge was turned away from the lower floor, instead staring at several pieces of equipment and a booth. All curiosity seeped out of her mind at the sight of another shambler lying limp on top of the frame of the booth's broken glass window, its blood marking streaks down the wall. A door to the left, marked with a large, red-illuminated sign spelling 'EXIT', accompanied by another sign, this one green and showing a minimalistic caricature of a biped going through a frame, with an arrow above it. Thankfully, this one was unblocked, and she went through with no problems.

Suddenly, she was thrown off her feet by a concussive blast of air caused by an explosion mere meters into the hallway ahead of her. The glass on the windows exploded, and the shards joined the wood splinters and concrete chips in raining down on her body. Her ringing ears did not register the sound of the sonic boom that followed, and Celestia felt so sick she couldn't hold it in anymore: staggering unsteadily to her hooves, the disoriented mare leaned against the edge of the nearest window and expelled all of her stomach's contents down onto whatever lay below. Her dazed brain barely recognized the movement of a bridge far away coming down with a heavy pneumatic groan, and her hazy eyes took a considerable amount of time to register the fire escape staircase right in front of her, leading to the ground level.


	6. Final Author's Note: Relocation

Hey there, guys. I'm just gonna give you who still care about this fic a quick heads-up, and that to new readers as well. If you're an old reader and go back to the actual chapters, you'll see how they're quite a bit more polished than the first version. Yeah, I know it took a while, but real life RAMMED me with work, university, and other things I'm not feeling like mentioning.

So here's the thing: I'm moving this story over to Fimfiction. Why? Several reasons, really, but they're all condensed in three facts: editing on that site is TONS easier than this outdated piece of shit, there you can _actually_ separate the wheat from the chaff from upvotes, faves and whatnot, and interaction is easier by miles. Not to mention the admin body is a lot more active and the user base tends to be friendlier and more intelligent.

Anyhow, it's there, and if it isn't yet as of today, 1st of January 2015, wait for it a little. And if you don't have an account for that site... WHAT KIND OF FANFIC READING BRONY ARE YOU?! No, seriously, just make an account there, and you'll be sailing in smooth waves without any regrets whatsoever.

See you there!


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